Developing the Menstrual Myths Attitude Scale

Area of Science:

• Women's Health
• Sociology of Health
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Menstrual myths pose risks to women's health.
• Understanding attitudes towards menstrual myths is crucial for health interventions.
• Existing measurement tools for menstrual myth attitudes are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a scale for assessing attitudes toward menstrual myths.
• To provide a reliable instrument for measuring women's perceptions of menstruation-related myths.

Main Methods:

• Methodological scale development study (October 2021 - January 2023).
• Literature review, expert opinions, and pre-application for item generation.
• Data collection from 337 women using questionnaires.
• Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for validity.
• Cronbach's alpha for reliability analysis.

Main Results:

• The final scale comprises 20 items across 5 subscales: menstrual information, stigmatization, privacy, hygiene, and education.
• Exploratory Factor Analysis identified five factors explaining 52.074% of the variance.
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis demonstrated a good model fit, confirming scale validity.
• The overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.790, indicating good reliability.

Conclusions:

• The Attitude Towards Menstrual Myths scale is a valid and reliable instrument.
• The scale can be used to assess women's attitudes regarding menstrual myths.
• Further validation is recommended for diverse populations, including men and gender-neutral individuals.