Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Fear of Developing Cancer Scale

Vollständiger Abstract

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Cancer is a disease that has inspired fear. There is a need for interventions to measure and reduce the fear of cancer in individuals. It is not clear how best to measure the fear of developing cancer, and there is currently no brief measurement tool available to assess this fear. This study aimed to develop and validate the Fear of Developing Cancer Scale. This is a methodological study. The study was conducted with 450 participants who had not been diagnosed with cancer in Türkiye. Data were collected with a sociodemographic form and the fear of developing cancer scale. Explanatory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to confirm factor structure. Reliability of the scale was tested with Cronbach’s α, item-total correlations, and the Spearman-Brown coefficient. The Fear of Developing Cancer Scale consists of 13 items and two subscales. The scale explains 53.23% of the total variance. Explanatory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis results validated the two-factor structure. Sub-dimension factor coefficients above 0.30 were discovered in both confirmatory and explanatory factor analyses. Cronbach’s alpha value is 0.90 for the total scales, 0.90 for Factor 1, and 0.81 for Factor 2. The item-total correlation coefficients ranged between 0.45 and 0.81. The Fear of Developing Cancer Scale is a brief and valid instrument that can be easily used. The Fear of Developing Cancer Scale could be used in research to assess the fear of developing cancer. Health professionals can use this scale to assess individuals' fear of developing cancer and uncover factors that influence it.