Psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the attitudes toward massage (ATOM) scale

Abstract

The use of massage, which may be part of the care administered to an individual, is increasing. Massage is known to affect physiological and psychological factors. Individuals' attitudes and expectations also affect care outcomes. However, there is no validated tool to evaluate these factors. In this study, the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the attitudes toward massage (ATOM) scale were evaluated. The sampleconsisted of 250 undergraduate nursing students. The language, content validity, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to assess the validity of the scale. The reliability of the scale was tested using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, a paired samples t-test, and item-total and item-subdimensions score correlation, and Hotelling's T-squared test. The scale consisted of two sub-dimensions, which explained 53.80% of the variance. All the factor loadings were >0.30 in the factor analysis. In CFA, all the fit indices were >0.90, and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.063. Cronbach's alpha was 0.76 for the overall scale. It was determined that the instrument had invariance according to time (p > 0.05). The instrument involved no response bias (Hotelling's T-squared = 699.586, p < 0.001). The results of the study show that the Attitudes towards Massage Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool for a Turkish sample.