Development of Attitude and Behavior Scale Towards Medical Wastes: A Methodological Study

Introduction: This study aims to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool that measures the attitudes and behaviors of healthcare professionals towards medical waste. Materials and Methods: In this methodological study, the item pool of the medical waste attitude and behavior scale (TATS) was first created, then the content validity of the 30-item scale was tested by taking expert opinions, and validity and reliability analyzes were conducted. The scale wa instrument s applied to 252 health workers working in a university hospital. Data were analyzed us hedef ing SPSS (22.0) and AMOS (24.0) programs. Results: After the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the scale showed a four-factor structure consisting of 24 items and the total variance explained was 69.09%. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis, the goodness of fit values of the scale is within acceptable limits (χ²/sd= 2.97, RMSEA= 0.08, CFI= 0.90, SRMR= 0.05). There is a moderate positive correlation between the developed scale and the medical waste management evaluation scale (r= 0.55 and p< 0.001) and criterion validity are appropriate. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.94 for the whole scale and between 0.77 and 0.95 for the sub-dimensions, and the scale has a high level of reliability. According to the difference evaluation made between the 27% groups who got the highest and lowest scores on the scale, it was determined that all of the items on the scale were distinctive and valid. It has been determined that the scale has no floor and ceiling effect. Conclusion: The developed medical waste attitude and behavior scale can be used as a valid and reliable scale to determine the attitudes and behaviors of health-care professionals