Development of the global climate crisis risk perception scale (GCCRP-S), validity and reliability study

Objective: The global climate crisis is one of the most important environmental public health problems of the 21st century. The effects of the global climate crisis, which has been scientifically proven to occur mainly due to human activities apart from natural processes, are being felt with increasing intensity all over the world. This study aimed to develop the "Global Climate Crisis Risk Perception Scale (GCCRP-S)" to determine the global climate crisis risk perceptions in adults aged 18-60. Material and Method: A methodological research was conducted in Ortahisar district of Trabzon province. The population of the research consists of 205.038 individuals between the ages of 18-60 residing in Ortahisar. Since the study is a scale development study, it was carried out in 8 stages: reviewing the literature and determining the conceptual framework; establishment of the item pool; submitting the item pool to expert opinion; pilot study; preparation of the data collection tool to be used in the main application, including the candidate scale; main application with large sample group; test-retest application of the candidate scale so that determining stability of scale; statistical analysis of the data and finalization of GCCRP-S. Considering the common views in the literature, the sample size for the field application was calculated as 675, with 15 participants per item, and it was planned to reach a minimum of 700 people. It was deemed appropriate to carry out the pilot study and the retest application with 50 participants each. Convenience sampling was used both in the pilot study and in the field application. The retest was applied to the volunteers determined during the field application. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews in both the pilot study, the field application, and the retest application. Content validity, face validity, construct validity and concurrent validity were evaluated to determine the validity of the scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed to determine construct validity. Internal consistency (item-total correlations and Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients) and stability tests (intraclass correlation coefficient) were used to determine reliability. Results: An item pool containing a total of 64 draft items was created. Opinions were received from 22 different qualified experts on the item pool. The content validity ratios of the draft items in the item pool were calculated between 0.272-0.999. The critical content validity ratio was determined as 0.455. Two items whose content validity ratio was lower than the critical content validiy ratio were removed from the scale. The content validity index calculated over the remaining items resulted in 0.831. 12 items were removed from the scale in line with expert opinions and pilot study was started with 50 draft items. The pilot study was carried out with 50 participants. As a result of the item analysis made with the data obtained from the pilot study, 5 items were excluded from the scale because their item-total correlations were low. 2 items were rearranged in line with the feedback received in the pilot study, and the main application/field application was started with 45 items. 749 people participated in the main application. To determine the construct validity of the scale, exploratory factor analysis was performed. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, a five-factor structure consisting of 29 items was formed, which explained 69.40% of the variance. The contribution of the factors to the explained variance is between 47.44-3.58%. Goodness of fit values determined by confirmatory factor analysis were found among the acceptable values defined in the literature. In the reliability analyzes performed, the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was determined as 0.957 and the intra-class correlation coefficient as 0.940 (p<0.001). Conclusion: The developed scale is a valid and reliable inventory that can be used to determine the risk perception towards the global climate crisis in the adult age group. Keywords: Global climate crisis, Reliability and validity, Risk perception, Scale, Trabzon