Fear of amputation scale in individuals with diabetes: A scale development study

The research is a methodological study planned to develop a scale for the fear of amputation in individuals with diabetes. The population of the study consisted of individuals with diabetes who applied to Isparta City Hospital Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases outpatient clinics. Among the patients who agreed to participate in the study, 276 of them constituted the sample number. Data were collected through the questionnaire form "Draft Amputation Fear Scale in Individuals with Diabetes". SPSS 22 and Amos 26 programs were used to analyze the data. Expert opinions were taken for the 20-item draft scale and the content validity index was found to be 0.989. Items with item-total correlations of 0.30 and below were removed. The remaining item correlations were between 0.331-0.614. After the exploratory factor analysis, a structure with four factors (social fear, fear of exclusion, emotional fear and fear of inactivity) and 15 items was formed. The fit statistics after confirmatory factor analysis were χ2/sd=3.07, GFI=0.9, AGFI=0.9, CFI=0.92, RMSEA=0.06, RMR=0.07. Test-retest method was used for the reliability of the scale against time. It was found that there was no statistically significant difference between the mean scores obtained from both measurements (t:,312, p:,812); there was a positive, strong and significant relationship (r:,68, p=0.000). Cronbach alpha coefficient was found to be 0.839 and the sub-dimensions ranged between 0.609 - 0.942. As a result, it was determined that the "Fear of Amputation Scale in Individuals with Diabetes" developed to measure the fear of amputation in individuals with diabetes can be used as a valid and reliable scale in a sample of individuals with diabetes.