Development of a measurement tool to evaluate behavioral tendency to lower urinary tract infection in women and determining the level of behavioral tendency in women

Objective: The first aim of this research is to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to determine behavioral tendency to lower urinary tract infection in women, and the second aim is to evaluate the level of behavioral tendency to lower urinary tract infection in women. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted methodologically and cross-sectionally with 1247 female in a training and research hospital between 11.01.2023-01.09.2023. During the development phase of the scale, psychometric tests were performed using content validity, EFA, CFA, item discrimination and reliability analyses. With the developed scale, women's behavioral tendency was evaluated by collecting data using face-to-face interview technique. Analyzes and parametric tests were performed with NVIVO, SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 24.0 programs. Results: According to the EFA results of the scale, a five sub-dimensions was obtained, explaining 65.16% of the total variance in the scale and factor loadings varying between 0.609-0.894. CFA data were within acceptable values. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.983 for the whole scale, and 0.943-0.946-0.939-0.919-0.875 for its sub-dimensions, respectively. The mean score of women's behavioral tendency level to lower urinary tract infection is 3.74 ± 0.77. Age, education level, economic status, employment status and having had a urinary tract/genital disease affect women's behavioral tendency to lower urinary tract infection (p<0.05 for each). Conclusion: The Women Behavioral Tendency to Lower Urinary Tract Infection Evaluation Scale, which consists of five sub-dimensions and 35 items, is considered a valid and reliable scale. Women's behavioral tendency to lower urinary tract infection is low.