Reliability, Validity and Factor Structure of Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale of Obesity (DASOB) and Automatic Thoughts Scale of Obesity (ATSOB)
Sultan Okumuşoğlu
Dr.Sultan Okumuşoğlu, PhD. in Clinical Pschology is currently lecturer and Head of Psyhology Department at Girne American University.
Manuscript Received on March 22, 2015. | Revised Manuscript Received on March 28, 2015. | Manuscript published on March 15, 2015. | PP: 11-17 | Volume-1 Issue-6, March 2015.
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: It is thought that obesity related cognitions should be measured directly by using specified scales. Therefore with the aim to be able to search obesity related cognitions directly, two scales were constructed which named as Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale of Obesity (DASOB) and Automatic Thoughts Scale of Obesity (ATSOB). Scales were constructed by using examples of thought or attitude expressions which are emphasized in related literature (Beck, 2007; O’Connor and Dowrick, 1987; Werrij et al., 2009) and which are consistent with author’s clinical experiences. Four group of subjects as “successfull obeses”, “unsuccesfull obeses”, “obeses who does not look for professional help” and “normal controls” -32 subjects for each, and 128 for total- were used. The obeses who lost at least 10% of their initial weight and who were succesfully maintained 10% less weight for one year were assigned to the group “succesfull obeses” and the obeses who couldn’t maintained weight loss were assigned to the group “unsuccesfull obeses”. These two groups were choosen from patients of a private clinic and other two groups from general population. In terms of DASOB’s validity analysis, statisticaly significant positive corelation was found between Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale of Obesity (DASOB) and Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS) (r=.538, p<.001); which reveals that high scores at DASOB are related with high scores at DAS and vice versa. Factor Analyses of DASOB pointed out that the total variance explained by four factors is 61,865%. Factor loadings of all items for the first factor were above 0,478 to 0,787 (except DASOB1 and DASOB12) and this result beside the high accelerated drop after first factor on graphic leads to the decision that this scale has one general factor. Also, one way variance analysis revealed that DASOB could differentiate “succesful obeses” from other obese groups. In terms of ATSOB’s validity analysis, statisticaly significant positive corelation was found between Automatic Thoughts Scale of Obesity (ATSOB) and Automatic Thoughts Questionaire (ATQ) (r=.658, p<.001); which points out that high scores at ATSOB are related with high scores at ATQ and vice versa. According to Factor Analyses of ATSOB, the total variance explained by six factors is 67.180%. Factor loadings of all items for the first factor were above 0,312, and this result beside the accelerated drop after first factor on graphic leads to the decision that this scale has one general factor. Also, one way variance analysis revealed that ATSOB could differentiate “succesful obeses” from “obeses who does not look for professional help”. According to reliability analysis; Cronbach alpha’s for DASOB and ATSOB consequently was 0,883 and 0,829. In terms of split-half reliability, correlation between two halfs is 0,594 for DASOB and 0,582 for ATSOB. Analysis revealed that both DASOB and ATSOB can be accepted as valid and reliable instruments.
Keywords: Dysfunctional thoughts, Dysfunctional beliefs; Dysfunctional attitudes; Cognitions; Weight-loss success; Obesity; Automatic Thoughts