Evaluation of the validity and reliability of the Turkish form of cooking skills and food skills measure

Objective: In this study; It was aimed to adapt the "Cooking Skills and Food Skills" measure, originally in English, to Turkish by evaluating its Turkish version's validity and reliability. The sample group of the study consists of a total of 300 participants; 150 women and 150 men over the age of 18, who attended the course at Pamukkale Public Education Center and Evening Art School between February 2020 and March 2020. In the study, validity and reliability analyzes were conducted for the Turkish adaptation of the CS and FS measure. There are 14 items in the cooking skills sub-dimension and 19 items in the food skills sub-dimension. This measure consists of 33 items; It has been developed as a method that can contribute to the reduction of obesity. In the study, it was determined that the sample size was sufficient according to the Kaiser-Meier-Olkin test statistics results (KMO = 0.93). In addition, according to the Bartlett Test of Sphericity, it was determined that there was a sufficient level of correlation between the items to perform a factor analysis (χ2 = 5928; p <0.0001). With the explanatory factor analysis, it was concluded that the CS and FS measures were gathered under 2 factors (dimensions) as stated in the original. Since the factor load of each factor is above 0.40 and the total variance explained percentage is above 30%, it has been concluded that CS and FS measure can be evaluated in these factors. With the confirmatory factor analysis, the Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) was 0.93, the Root Mean Square Residual-RMR was 0.042, and the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was 0.073. The values determined in this scale show the acceptability and applicability of adapting the CS and FS measure to Turkish. The reliability (Cronbach alpha) coefficient of the CS and FS measure was found to be 0.954. Reliability coefficients for 2 sub-dimensions of CS and FS measure approved in Confirmatory Factor Analysis were found to be; 0.90 for the 1st sub-dimension (cooking skills) and 0.92 for the 2nd sub-dimension (food skills). These results show that each sub-dimension has internal consistency. After the validity and reliability of the CS and FS measure were completed, it was applied to the individuals who participated in the study, and the relationships between the scores they got from the measure and various variables were examined. For the score assessment of the measure, participants are asked to score how well they are in each task, and scores between 1 and 7 are added for the skills used. Participants who choose never / rarely option get 0 points. It is understood that the higher the total score of the participants, the higher their cooking and food skills are. CS-FS total measure score and sub-dimensions mean scores were higher in females than males (p <0.05). When the relation between the CS-FS total scale score and the profession is examined, it is found that the group that creates the difference is housewives. It was determined that housewives differ from students, civil servants, self-employed and retired individuals (p <0.05). When the correlations between individuals CS-FS total measure score and their knowledge about various eating habits and some cooking techniques were examined; A positive and statistically significant relationships was found between the CS-FS total measure scores of those who had less dine-outs and consumed less fast food (p <0.05). Negative and statistically significant relationships were found between the CS-FS total measure scores of individuals who had less cooking frequency at home, had higher eating speed, and learned cooking skills at an older age (p <0.05). It was determined that as the frequency of consuming snacks and the time spent for cooking increased, CS-FS total measure score increased positively (p <0.05). As a result, in this study; The validity and reliability study of the CS and FS measure has been conducted and it has been found to be perfectly reliable. At the same time, this measure can help to find out at which methods individuals are insufficient by measuring their cooking skills and food skills. The development of these skills can be beneficial for increasing the frequency of cooking at home, consuming healthier foods and preventing obesity.