Original Research
Development of the attitude scale towards rural health services
AUTHORS
Mustafa Filiz1 PhD, Assistant Professor * 
Selman Yakut2 PhD, Research Assistant
AFFILIATIONS
1 Department of Health Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Artvin Çoruh University, Artvin, Turkey
2 Istanbul Sultan Abdulhamid Khan Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
ACCEPTED: 22 August 2025
Early Abstract:
Aim: This study aims to develop a scale to assess the attitude of university students towards rural health services.
Method: The research was conducted with 378 university students studying in health departments. The Attitude Scale Towards Rural Health Services was developed through a systematic process including problem identification, literature review, item writing, expert opinion gathering, pilot application and finalisation. Initially consisting of 35 items, the item pool was reduced to 21 items after expert review and pilot testing. Exploratory factor analyse were carried out on the data. In addition, CR and AVE values of the scale and its sub-dimensions were calculated.
Results: Exploratory factor analysis identified three factors: Positive Attitude, Voluntarism and Contribution, and Concerns and Limitations. Reliability analysis showed that the Cronbach alpha values for all subscales were above .70, indicating high internal consistency.
Conclusion: The study concluded that the Rural Health Services Attitude Scale is a valid and reliable tool for assessing health students' attitudes towards rural health services.
Keywords: factor analysis, health students, reliability and validity, rural health, scale development.