Development of safe powdered infant formula preparation scale, validity and reliability study

INTRODUCTION AND AIM Unquestionably, breastfeeding is the best form of nutrition for infants. In some cases, it is important to prepare the formula safely when it may be necessary to use industrial formula instead of breast milk. The present study was conducted with the objective of developing and testing the validity and reliability of the "Safe Powdered Infant Formula Preparation Scale," which can be employed to determine the practices of parents regarding safe powdered infant formula preparation. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The sample of this methodological and cross-sectional study consisted of 330 parents (240 mothers and 90 fathers) who voluntarily participated in the study throughout Turkey. The research data were collected with the questionnaire prepared by the researchers and a 5-point Likert scale called the "Safe Powdered Infant Formula Preparation Scale," which was prepared in line with the literature, the experience of the researchers, and expert opinions. The data obtained in the study were analyzed using the IBM SPSS AMOS 23 software. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants in the study group was determined to be 27.61±5.44 years. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of 0.792 and Bartlett's test of sphericity were found to be significant in the construct validity of the scale (p<0.01). As a result of the factor analysis applied, the number of items, which was 19, decreased to 17. As a result of the content validity of these 17 items, it was seen that they were collected in 5 factors and all factor loadings were above 0.400. These factors were named "Freshness," "Hygiene Before Preparation," "Control Before Preparation," "Proper Preparation," and "Safe Temperature and Thawing." The fit index values for the confirmatory factor analysis model of the scale were χ2/df=1.784, GFI=0.936, CFI=0.927, and RMSEA=0.049. The total Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.792. CONCLUSION: It was seen that the developed scale is a measurement tool with adequate validity and reliability indicators that can be used to measure the practices of parents regarding safe powdered infant formula preparation. Keywords: Infant Nutrition, Safe Formula Preparation, Infant Formula, Scale Development