The geriatric mistreatment scale: The validity and reliability of its turkish adaptation

Introduction: This study aims to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the ‘Geriatric Mistreatment Scale’, which was developed to identify elder abuse. Materials and Method: Random sampling methods were used to survey 776 elders over the age of 60 residing in various cities in Turkey in their own homes or with other family members (their children or relatives). The Geriatric Mistreatment Scale is a 22-item assessment designed to assess five categories of elder abuse; namely, physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, neglect, financial or material abuse and sexual abuse. To adapt the scale into Turkish, language validity and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to assess its validity and internal consistency, and item analyses to assess its reliability. Results: Among the 776 participants, 460 (59.3%) were female and 316 (40.7%) were male. The mean age of the participants was 71.68 years. For 22 items of the scale, a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.80 was obtained, and item-total score correlations ranged from 0.27 to 0.58. Conclusion: The Turkish adaptation of the Geriatric Mistreatment Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used in Turkish populations to determine rates of the five categories of elder abuse.