The validitiy and reliability study of the survival roles of children of alcoholics scale

The aim of this methodological study was to determine the validity and reliability of "The Survival Roles Of Children Of Alcoholics Scale" developed by Devine and Braithwaite (1993) to evaluate the psychosocial status of adolescents that have alcohol-dependant parents, in Turkish population. Research was carried out in Dependency Polyclinic of Ege University Hospital and in Dependency Polyclinic of Manisa Mental Health and Diseases Hospital between 1 March 2014 and 1 July 2015. A total of 277 adolescents between 12 and 24 years of age, who have alcohol-dependent parents and referred to Dependency Polyclinic of Ege University Hospital and in Dependency Polyclinic of Manisa Mental Health and Diseases Hospital between 1 March 2014 and 1 July 2015, and who met the inclusion criteria of research and accepted to participate in research comprised the sampling of research. "Introductory Information Form" and "The Survival Roles of Children of Alcoholics Scale" were used as data collection tools. To provide the scale's language equivalency the Turkish translation and back-translation performed. For content validity study expert opinion was obtained, relevant corrections were made and scale's content validity was determined by applying Kendall Agreement Coefficient correlation test (Kendall's Wa=0.333, χ²=26.000, df=26, p=.463). Right after pilot application of scale, first the phone numbers and communication information of families that have alcohol dependency problem and met to sampling group were collected and then adolescents' data were collected through telephone interview after parents' permission was obtained. A factor analysis was carried out for the scale's structural validity study; and five factors consistent with the original scale were identified. In the reliability study, first total score correlations were scrutinized, the correlation value of all items was over 0.20, the item total score correlations were found significant over p<0.001. Scale's original item count remained as 27. Scale's subscale Cronbach Alpha value was between .94 and .84 and scale and subscales demonstrated internal consistency at acceptable level. In order to determine scale's invariance against time, scale reapplied to 30 adolescents two weeks after the first application. When the total score correlations between the first and second applications were compared the test-retest scale total score was r = .76 and the relationship in between was found highly significant. Consequently, "The Survival Roles of Children of Alcoholics Scale" is a valid and reliable measurement tool for Turkish population. Key Words: Alcohol dependency, parent-alcoholism, validity, reliability