Turkish Validity and Reliability of the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children

Objective: This study evaluates the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Sleep Disturbance scale for Children (SDSC). Materials and Methods: SDSC is a Likert-type scale with 26 items and 6 subscales used to investigate sleep disturbances in school-age children. The SDSC is completed by the parent based on the preceding 6 months. The study was started after obtaining permission from the scale owner. First, an orderly adaptation of the scale to the Turkish language was performed (translation, expert panel, back translation, pilot study). Test-retest was applied to 30 participants. After these procedures, data collection was started with SDSC and demographic data form. The collected data were analyzed for reliability (stability of the scale with test-retest; internal consistency of the scale with Cronbach's alpha) and validity (construct validity of the scale with confirmatory factor analysis). T-score table was created for SDSC and its subscales. Results: Overall, 328 participants attended the study. Of these, 51.5% were females and 48.5% were males. The mean age was 10.3 +/- 2.8 years (min: 6; max: 16 years). The Cronbach alpha value, which tested the scale's internal consistency, was 0.79. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed X-2/df=2.003, p<0.001, CFI =0.845, GFI =0.875, and RMSEA =0.055. The mean of the SDSC total score was 40.6 +/- 10.1 (min: 26; max: 86). The total SDSC score of 13 children (4%) were clinically significant in terms of sleep disturbance (T-score >70). Conclusion: The Turkish version of SDSC fulfilled the validity and reliability tests at an acceptable level.