Development and validation of the pro‐environmental behaviour scale for women's health

• Published in: Journal of advanced nursing Vol. 73; no. 5; pp. 1235 - 1244
• Main Author: Kim, HyunKyoung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.05.2017
• Subjects: Adult; altruism; Attitude to Health; Behavior rating scales; behaviour; Conservation of Natural Resources; Consumption; Cross-Sectional Studies; Discriminant validity; environment; Environmental behaviour; Environmental Health; Environmental Pollution; Exploratory factor analysis; Female; Focus groups; health; Health Behavior; Healthy Lifestyle; Humans; instrument development; Literature reviews; Middle Aged; Nursing; optimal cut point; Pollution; Principal components analysis; Protection motivation theory; Protective factors; Quantitative psychology; reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Republic of Korea; Sampling; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Validation studies; Validity; Women; Women's Health; Womens health; Young Adult; South Korea; environment; altruism; reliability; instrument development; health; behaviour; nursing; validity; optimal cut point; women
• ISSN: 0309-2402; 1365-2648
• DOI: 10.1111/jan.13233

Aim This study was aimed to develop and test the Pro‐environmental Behavior Scale for Women's Health. Background Women adopt sustainable behaviours and alter their life styles to protect the environment and their health from environmental pollution. The conceptual framework of pro‐environmental behaviours was based on Rogers’ protection motivation theory and Weinstein's precaution adoption process model. Design The cross‐sectional design was used for instrument development. Method The instrument development process consisted of a literature review, personal depth interviews and focus group interviews. The sample comprised 356 adult women recruited in April–May 2012 in South Korea using quota sampling. For construct validity, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the factor structure, after which convergent and discriminant validity and known‐group comparisons were tested. Results Principal component analysis yielded 17 items with four factors, including ‘women's health protection,’ ‘chemical exposure prevention,’ ‘alternative consumption,’ and ‘community‐oriented behaviour’. The Cronbach's α was 0·81. Convergent and discriminant validity were supported by performing correlations with other environmental‐health and health‐behaviour measures. Conclusion Nursing professionals can reliably use the instrument to assess women's behaviours, which protect their health and the environment.