Development of an attitude scale for the use of telemedicine services

Objective: This study aimed to develop a scale to assess attitudes towards the use of telemedicine services, to study the reliability and validity of the developed scale, and to determine the characteristics associated with the scores obtained from the scale. Method: This study, which was carried out with 600 patients over the age of 18 who applied to the Family Health Centers in the Meram district of Konya, and their relatives, was designed methodologically. The socio-demographic characteristics form and the candidate scale form designed in a 5-point likert structure were used to collect data in the research. The data collection forms were applied to the participants under observation. SPSS and R programs were used for data analysis. Statistically, cases with p<0.05 were considered significant. Results: 250 people for reliability and Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA), 350 people for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), 600 people in total were included in the study. It was determined that the results obtained from all reliability and validity analyzes of the candidate scale were sufficient. It was found that the total explained variance of the scale, which consists of a single sub-dimension and 18 items, was 53.8%, and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was 0.947. There was a significant difference between the score obtained from the scale and the working status and presence of chronic disease (p<0.05). Conclusion: As a result of the research, a new measurement tool called "Attitude Scale Towards the Use of Telemedicine Services" consisting of 18 questions in a 5-point Likert structure was developed, reliability and validity analyzes were performed and it was shown to be suitable for use in individuals over 18 years of age.