Development and validation of the out-of-school learning environments psychological well-being scale

This study aimed to develop and validate a scale measuring psychological well-being in out-of-school learning environments and to examine students’ well-being levels using the developed instrument. A scale development design was employed. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to establish the construct validity of the scale, while reliability and criterion-related validity analyses were performed to evaluate its psychometric properties. A finalised scale was given to 347 seventh-grade students in Sivas, Turkey. The findings supported a single-factor structure of the scale. For external validity, a widely accepted Turkish adaptation of the Psychological Well-being Scale was used, and a Pearson correlation of .59 was found between this scale and the developed 19-item scale. Students’ levels of psychological well-being were relatively high. Significant differences were observed according to gender, with female students reporting higher scores than male students. The developed scale scores did not differ according to participation in extracurricular learning trips. The developed scale provides a valid and reliable measure for assessing students’ psychological well-being in out-of-school learning environments and may contribute to future research and educational practice in this field.