Development of the Oral Care Attitude Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study

Background: Oral care, a fundamental aspect of nursing, is crucial for maintaining patient health but is often neglected in healthcare settings. Despite existing studies on nurses' attitudes towards oral care, there is a significant gap in the literature regarding developing a valid and reliable tool to assess these attitudes effectively. Objectives: The research aims to create a valid and reliable measurement tool to evaluate attitudes towards oral care. Methods: This methodological study was carried out with nurses working at Atatürk University Research Hospital. ‘Introductory Information Form’ and ‘Oral Care Attitude Scale (OCAS)’ were used to collect data. Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the sub-dimensions of the scale ranged from 0.726 to 0.924, while the overall Cronbach's alpha value was 0.904. Exploratory factor analysis of the 21-item scale revealed a four-factor structure explaining 62.487% of the total variance. As a result of content validity, these factors were named ‘Importance of Oral Care’, ‘Sustainability of Oral Care’, ‘Effectiveness of Oral Care’ and ‘Reluctance to Oral Care’. Confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS confirmed the four-factor structure with acceptable fit indices. Conclusions: The ‘Oral Care Attitude Scale’ is valid and reliable. Nurses' attitudes towards oral care can be assessed with this scale. According to the results obtained, the scale is expected to guide clinical practices or other studies to be conducted, raise the standards in patient care and increase awareness in this area.