Assessing The Validity And Reliability Of The Disaster Adaptation And Resilience Scale Among Victims Of The 2023 Kahramanmaraş-Hatay Earthquakes In Turkey

The present study aims to assess the resilience of individuals affected by the 2023 Kahramanmaraş and Hatay earthquakes utilizing the adapted Disaster Adaptation and Resilience Scale (DARS). Moreover, this study will determine the validity and reliability of the DARS in the Turkish context.  The original scale was translated and applied to 562 earthquake survivors residing in the earthquake-affected regions and directly affected by the earthquakes. The explanatory factor analysis yielded five factors with eigenvalues exceeding one, collectively explaining 79.658% of the total variance. The factor loadings ranged from 0.615 to 0.986. No items were eliminated at this stage. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a five-factor, 19-item structure was the optimal solution. The general fit indices of the model were found to be appropriate, as indicated by the following values: CMIN/df: 3.505; GFI: 0.855; AGFI: 0.802; NFI: 0.943; CFI: 0.958; IFI: 0.959; TLI: 0.949; RMSEA: 0.095. All alpha and omega values were found to be above 0.80, thus indicating satisfactory internal consistency. Furthermore, the composite and maximum reliability values were greater than 0.70. About convergent validity, it was established that the critical ratio values exceeded 0.70, the average variance extracted values surpassed 0.50, and the critical ratio values exceeded the average variance extracted values. Results indicated that the Turkish version of the DARS is a valid instrument for evaluating the disaster resilience of individuals affected by disasters in Turkey.