Development of flood fear scale and investigation of psychometric properties

Fear of flooding is directly related to an individual's risk perception, level of anxiety, and degree of feeling vulnerable. Floods trigger a climate of anxiety, worry, and fear at the societal level, and shake the psychological balance of society. Individuals are affected by floods and experience fear, as with other disasters. This study aimed to develop a flood fear scale and investigate its psychometric properties. The study was designed as methodological in terms of developing a valid and reliable scale, and cross-sectional and descriptive in terms of determining the factors that affect individuals' levels of flood fear. The study was conducted with 1158 participants aged between 18 and 65 residing in the Black Sea Region between February 15, 2025, and May 15, 2025. SPSS 25 and AMOS 21 programs were used in data analysis. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.951, and the Bartlett test of sphericity (Χ²(351)=9566.272; p<0.001) was found to be significant. The Flood Fear Scale consists of four dimensions and 26 items. Cronbach's alpha was found to be 0.948. The scale explained 62.644% of the total variance. The model's goodness-of-fit indices were χ2/df=3.444, RMSEA=0.65, SRMR=0.056, CFI=0.921, IFI=0.922, NFI=0.893, and TLI=0.912 (p<0.001). The total scale score ranges from 26 to 130, with higher scores indicating greater fear of floods. The findings indicate that the Flood Fear Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool in Turkish society. The Flood Fear Scale can be used to determine individuals' levels of fear of floods in community-based disaster risk reduction studies. Data obtained from the scale can contribute scientifically to the processes of raising pre-disaster awareness, planning educational programs, and developing intervention strategies.