Validity and reliability of Turkish version of Beliefs About Third-Hand Smoke Scale: BATHS-T.

Objective: Exposure to third-hand smoke (THS) poses health risk, especially for children. THS is mostly ignored in Turkey. The aim of this study is to adapt the Beliefs about Third-Hand Smoke (BATHS) scale to Turkish.

Methods: The BATHS scale consists of 9 items, and the data collected from 273 people was considered sufficient for analyses in this methodological study. The BATHS scale is translated into Turkish and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed for the construct validity analysis of the scale.

Results: The correlation between the overall BATHS scale and its two sub-dimensions was 0.937 (p < 0.001), and the correlation between the health and persistence sub-dimensions was 0.775 (p < 0.001). Since there was a statistically positive and highly significant relationship, the adapted BATHS scale was considered structurally compatible with the sub-dimensions. The reliability value of the entire scale is 0.90. Test-retest correlation values between the health and persistence dimensions were between 0.745 and 0.960, the values obtained were above 0.70 and had a statistically positive and high level of significant relationship (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: It is concluded that the Turkish version of the BATHS scale is reliable and valid. This scale will allow further research and training on third-hand smoke exposure. Tobacco control programmes success will improve.