Readiness for weaning scale: Development and psychometric measurement study

Abstract

This study was carried out to develop a measurement tool to determine the readiness of mothers and babies for weaning. At the first stage of the study, a draft of the Readiness for Weaning Scale (RWS) was created. In the second stage, this draft was presented to the opinions of experts (CVI:0.85), and in the third stage, the validity and reliability of RWS were tested by collecting data from the participants (n = 265). Factor analysis was performed to determine the construct validity of RWS. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, the KMO statistic was found to be 0.802. In the factor analysis, four factors were determined, and these factors explained 60.023% of the total variance as a result of the analysis performed with the varimax vertical rotation technique (Weaning intention, Baby's readiness, Weaning technique, Mother's readiness). The internal consistency coefficient of the scale was found to indicate a quite high level of reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.793).