{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T06:24:03Z","timestamp":1787207043277,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787184000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Glob. Women\u2019s Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Vaginal douching remains common in several settings despite its association with adverse reproductive health outcomes. A standardized instrument for assessing how frequently women perform vaginal douching in specific circumstances is lacking.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To develop the Vaginal Douching Practice Scale (VDPS) and examine preliminary evidence for its content validity, factor structure, and reliability among married women.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Method<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This methodological study included 423 married women aged 18 years and older. An initial 17-item pool was generated from the literature, reviewed for content, and pilot-tested with 50 women. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted sequentially in the same sample; therefore, the CFA was treated as an internal model check rather than an independent confirmation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The mean age of participants was 33.34\u2009\u00b1\u20098.55 years. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.959, and Bartlett's test of sphericity was significant (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n                      2\u2009=\u20098,750.245,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.001). EFA yielded a one-factor solution explaining 71.89% of the variance, with loadings ranging from 0.694 to 0.920. Internal consistency was very high (Cronbach's alpha\u2009=\u20090.97), split-half reliability was 0.93, and the two-week test-retest correlation in 31 participants was 0.92. CFA loadings ranged from 0.642 to 0.937; however, global model fit was inadequate (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      \/df\u2009=\u20094.428, GFI\u2009=\u20090.786, RMSEA\u2009=\u20090.123, 90% CI\u2009=\u20090.116\u20130.131) despite several incremental indices exceeding 0.90. Composite reliability was 0.975 and average variance extracted was 0.694, but these values do not compensate for the poor global fit.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The VDPS showed strong internal consistency and promising exploratory evidence; however, the proposed one-factor structure was not adequately supported by CFA. The instrument should be regarded as preliminary and requires item refinement and independent validation before routine clinical or research use.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fgwh.2026.1776421","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T05:29:05Z","timestamp":1787203745000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of the vaginal douching practice scale"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"\u0130mren","family":"Arpac\u0131 K\u0131z\u0131lda\u011f","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Gaziantep \u015eehitkamil District Health Directorate","place":["Gaziantep, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Saliha","family":"Yurt\u00e7i\u00e7ek Eren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Mu\u015f Alparslan University","place":["Mu\u015f, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Feride","family":"Yi\u011fit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Istanbul Topkapi Universitesi","place":["Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","unstructured":"G\u00f6kay\n              D\n            \n          \n          Ayd\u0131n Adnan Menderes University\n          Women\u2019s opinions and practices regarding vaginal douching: a case study\n          \n          2022"},{"key":"B2","first-page":"53","article-title":"The reality of vaginal douching in Turkey","volume":"22","author":"Okumu\u015f","year":"2014","journal-title":"Florence Nightingale J Nurs"},{"key":"B3","first-page":"118","article-title":"Reproductive system infections","volume-title":"Women\u2019s Health and Diseases for Nurses and Midwives","author":"Hotun \u015eahin","year":"2015"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.22312\/sdusbed.472704","article-title":"The effect of an educational program on menopausal women\u2019s attitudes toward menopause","volume":"10","author":"G\u00f6nen\u00e7","year":"2019","journal-title":"S\u00fcleyman Demirel Univ J Health Sci"},{"key":"B5","unstructured":"Palas\n              P\n            \n          \n          Ayd\u0131n Adnan Menderes University\n          The effect of women\u2019s imprisonment on genital hygiene practices\n          \n          2008"},{"key":"B6","first-page":"15","article-title":"Should traditional intravaginal practices\u2014vaginal douching and lavage\u2014be performed?","volume":"14","author":"\u00c7al\u0131\u015fkan","year":"2005","journal-title":"Contin Med Educ"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"628.e1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajog.2007.11.043","article-title":"The effect of vaginal douching cessation on bacterial vaginosis: a pilot study","volume":"198","author":"Brotman","year":"2008","journal-title":"Am J Obstet Gynecol"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"415","DOI":"10.3200\/JACH.56.44.415-422","article-title":"Vaginal douching among university women in the southeastern United States","volume":"56","author":"Cottrell","year":"2008","journal-title":"J Am Coll Health"},{"key":"B9","volume-title":"Scale Development: Theory and Applications","author":"DeVellis","year":"2014"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2018.00149","article-title":"Best practices for developing and validating scales for health, social, and behavioral research: a primer","volume":"6","author":"Boateng","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1159","DOI":"10.1007\/s11136-018-1829-0","article-title":"COSMIN methodology for evaluating the content validity of patient-reported outcome measures: a delphi study","volume":"27","author":"Terwee","year":"2018","journal-title":"Qual Life Res"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"rm1","DOI":"10.1187\/cbe.18-04-0064","article-title":"One size doesn\u2019t fit all: using factor analysis to gather validity evidence when using surveys in your research","volume":"18","author":"Knekta","year":"2019","journal-title":"CBE Life Sci Educ"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/19312458.2020.1718629","article-title":"Use omega rather than Cronbach\u2019s alpha for estimating reliability. 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