Investigation of Orthorexia in Breastfeeding Mothers, Adaptation of Orthorexia Nervosa Revised Scale into Turkish

Introduction: The growing emphasis on healthy eating has led to orthorexia nervosa, a pathological obsession with food quality, particularly affecting women. Breastfeeding mothers, concerned with optimal infant nutrition, may be especially at risk. This study aimed to translate the Orthorexia Nervosa Revised Scale (ORTO-R) into Turkish, evaluate its validity and reliability, and determine orthorexic tendencies among breastfeeding mothers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to December 2023 in five family health centres in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey, with 388 breastfeeding mothers recruited via simple random sampling. Data were collected using the Turkish ORTO-R, EAT-26, and EDE-Q Short Form. Psychometric evaluation included pilot testing, content validity, EFA, CFA, and reliability via Cronbach's alpha and split-half methods. Analyses were performed in SPSS 27.0 (p<0.05). Results: Mean ORTO-R score was 16.36 (4.77). EFA retained all items and revealed a two-factor structure; CFA indicated good fit (χ²/df = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.00). Cronbach's alpha was 0.724; Spearman-Brown and Guttman split-half coefficients were 0.703 and 0.692, confirming internal consistency. Mean EAT-26 and EDE-Q Short Form scores were 11.07 (10.22) and 1.66 (1.11), respectively. Significant positive correlations were observed between ORTO-R, EAT-26, and EDE-Q Short Form scores (p<0.05). Conclusions: The Turkish ORTO-R scale is valid and reliable for assessing orthorexic tendencies in breastfeeding mothers.