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.