A scale development study to determine older adults disaster resilience

OpenAlex · İngilizce

Older adults are among the groups most affected by disasters in societies due to their vulnerability. The goal of this study was to create a scale that could accurately and consistently measure senior citizens’ resilience to disasters. A pool of 60 items was formed based on the requirements and susceptibility of older adults during calamities. Content validity of the instruments was assessed using the Delphi method. The Draft Scale was administered to 491 individuals aged 65 years and older. To assess the construct validity of the scale, confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were performed. As a result of the analysis, a 4-factor structure was obtained and the factors were named ‘Coping Capacity,’ ‘Constraint Status,’ ‘Economic Status’ and ‘Risk Protection and Preparedness.’ The Cronbach’s Alpha value was calculated as 0.925 (sub-dimensions > 0.804), and thus the scale demonstrated very high reliability. The mean score of the scale, consisting of 30 items was calculated as 76.04 ± 18.91. In line with the results obtained, it was concluded that Older Adults Disaster Resilience Scale (OADRS) is a valid and reliable scale for assessing the resilience of older adults in disasters.