Participants
This methodological study was carried out in a city in
Turkey. The sample comprised women who lived in a public
housing neighbourhood of 2500 apartments and whose
contact details and health records were available. The simple
random sample method was used to select participants.
Sample size was determined with reference to the number
of items and Likert scales. A wide range of recommendations
about sample size in factor analysis have been made. Gorusch
(1983) and Hatcher (1994) not only recommended a minimum
subject-to-item ratio of at least 5:1 in exploratory factor
analysis, but also had stringent guidelines as to when this
ratio is acceptable and noted that higher ratios are generally
better. The scale to be tested for validity and reliability
contained 36 items, with five-point Likert scales for each of
the items. The sample size was selected as 180, equal to 36
items · 5 Likert preferences, so as to ensure that there was at
least one participant for each possible option.
Each apartment in the study district was given a number
and the apartments were selected by drawing numbers from
the random numbers table. The women included in the
sample were contacted via home visits. Women who were not
at home during two of these visits were omitted from the
sample and new numbers were selected. Consequently, 237
women were included. The criteria for inclusion were: a
minimum age of 21 years, not having previously been
diagnosed with any gynaecological cancer, literate, sexually
active in the past and/or now and willing to participate in the
study. Twenty-two women who were unavailable during two
home visits and three women who refused to participate in
the study were not included in the sample.