VALIDITY and RELIABILITY of RATIONAL DRUG USE SCALE

The present study was conducted to develop an instrument for measuring the adult’s rational drug use knowledge levels and to establish the instrument’s validity and reliability. The difficulty index and discrimination index for each item were calculated.Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine construct validity.Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient were calculated to determine reliability.Using medicines proper form, quantity and duration recommended by the doctor was defined as the rational use.In order to determine the validity of the test, it was predicted that the score taken from the scale would be higher in those who have appropriate rational drug use behaviors.The obtained data was evaluated with IBM SPSS (version15.0). The discrimination index and difficulty index ranged between 0.20-0.64 and %50–%90, respectively.According to factor analysis Kaiser-Meyer Olkin score was 0.836 and p<0.001 in Bartlett's test result.The item total correlation values ranged from 20 to 51%. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.789.As a result of the method used to determine validity, those who had rational drug use behaviors had higher scores on the questionnaire than those who did not(p<0.001).The study group scores taken from the scale were higher in under the age of 30 years, women, those with high school or above education, with good family income, lived places 1 km or less away from the health facility and who don’t use medications regularly. The scale has the feature of being the first valid and reliable scale to be used to assess the level of rational drug use knowledge in Turkey