Turkish adaptation of the Eating-Related Eco-Concern questionnaire: validity and reliability study

Area of Science:

• Environmental Psychology
• Nutritional Science
• Cross-cultural Adaptation of Measurement Tools

Background:

• Growing awareness of climate change necessitates understanding consumer behavior related to food choices.
• The Eating-Related Eco-Concern Questionnaire (EREC) measures ecological considerations in adult food decisions.
• Cross-cultural validation of psychological instruments is crucial for global research applicability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To translate the EREC into Turkish, ensuring cross-cultural adaptation.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties, including reliability and validity, of the Turkish EREC.
• To provide a validated instrument for assessing eating-related eco-concerns in a Turkish adult population.

Main Methods:

• Translation-Back Translation method for linguistic and cultural adaptation.
• Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for construct validity.
• Test-retest reliability and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for scale reliability.

Main Results:

• The Turkish EREC demonstrated adequate factor structure and model fit through EFA and CFA.
• Reliability analyses confirmed the scale's stability and consistency (ICC).
• The adapted questionnaire is a valid and reliable measure of eating-related eco-concerns in Turkish adults.

Conclusions:

• The Turkish adaptation of the EREC is a psychometrically sound instrument.
• This validated scale can be utilized in research on sustainable food consumption and climate change awareness in Turkey.
• The findings support the use of the EREC for evaluating the impact of ecological concerns on dietary choices.