A Turkish Validity and Reliability Study of the Safety Feeling Scale in Hospitalized Adult Patients: A Methodological Study

Objective: In Türkiye, no valid and reliable scale has been found to evaluate hospitalized patients' feeling of safety. Therefore, the study aimed to verify the validity-reliability of the Turkish version of the Safety Feeling Scale (SFS) in hospitalized adult patients. Material and Methods: This methodological study was conducted with 265 patients hospitalized in the internal and surgical clinics of a university hospital in the city of Erzurum. The data were collected between April and July 2024. The ''Personal Data Form'' and ''SFS'' were employed to collect the data. Following the language and content validity, the construct validity was ensured by Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses. The reliability was checked with Cronbach alpha, Spearman-Brown, and Guttman coefficient. Results: The content validity index of the twelve-item scale was found to be 0.87. The factor loads of the items were above 0.30. The scale explained 63.43% of the total variance and consisted of 3 sub-dimensions. The KaiserMayer-Olkin value was 0.80 and Bartlett's test value was χ2 =2096.11; p<0.000. Confirmatory Factor Analysis yielded that χ2 /SD=2.605, Goodness of Fit Index=0.963, Comparative Fit Index=0.929, TruckerLevis Index=0.949, Normed Fit Index=0.941, and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation=0.078. Based on the results, the 3-factor structure was confirmed. The total Cronbach alpha value was 0.85, the Spearman-Brown value was 0.810, and the Guttman Split-Half value was 0.804. Conclusion: It has been concluded that the Turkish version is a valid and reliable tool for assessing hospitalized patients' feeling of safety.