The Reliability and Validity Analysis of The Turkish Version of the Test to Assess the Psychological Dependence on Smoking

Abstract

Aim: Psychological component of cigarette dependence is as important as its physical component. In addition to psychoactive material in the cigarette, factors such as happiness, joy, accompaniment with another activity, feeling self-confident confidence and social status play an effective role in smoking dependence. This signifies the fact that smoking dependence has to be dealt with in a multidimensional way. Test to Assess the Psychological Dependence on Smoking (TAPDS) published by Ponciano-Rodríguez et al, is developed to assess the psychological dependence on tobacco. The aim of this study iis study aims to test the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Test to Assess the Psychological Dependence on Smoking in the Turkish population. Methods: The Test to Assess the Psychological Dependence on Smoking (TAPDS) Turkish Version with 25 questions along with a sociodemographic form was handed out to volunteer participants. Data was were collected from a total number of 420 voluntary participants, who were randomly selected and current smokers. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed and Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω coefficients were used to determine the reliability of the scores of the scale. Results: The participants consisted of 263 males and 157 females, with an average age of 31.07 years, ranging from 20 to 85. The factor loadings of the scale for all items are observed to be more than 0.30 and all the items are statistically significant. Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω values calculated for the total score are 0.93. 
Conclusion: The Turkish version of TAPDS appears to be effective for assessing psychological dependence of smoking and it can be recommended as a sufficient and highly reliable and valid scale to be used. 
Keywords: smoking, validity, reliability, psychological dependence