Turkish Adaptation of the Cyber Hygiene Inventory for Nursing Students: A Validity and Reliability Study

Background: In healthcare settings, inadequate cyber hygiene practices may compromise patient safety and data security. Nursing students, as future frontline healthcare professionals, must develop appropriate cybersecurity behaviors during their education. However, a validated instrument for assessing cyber hygiene behaviors among nursing students in Türkiye is currently lacking.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Cyber Hygiene Inventory (CHI) among nursing students.

Methods: This methodological, cross-sectional study was conducted with 323 undergraduate nursing students at a public university in Türkiye between October 1 and December 10, 2025. Data were collected using a Personal Information Form and the Cyber Hygiene Inventory. Linguistic equivalence was established through forward and backward translation, and content validity was assessed using the Davis technique. Construct validity was examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficients, item–total correlations, and split-half reliability analysis.

Results: EFA identified a three-factor structure comprising 16 items and explaining 76.52% of the total variance. The factors were labeled Device and Data Protection Hygiene, Social Media Interaction Hygiene, and Authentication and Email Security Hygiene. CFA demonstrated acceptable model fit, with a chi-square-to-degrees-of-freedom ratio (χ²/df) of 3.079, a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.080, and a comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.957. The overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.953, indicating high internal consistency.

Conclusion: The Turkish version of the Cyber Hygiene Inventory (CHI-TR) demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability for assessing cyber hygiene behaviors among nursing students. The instrument may be used in nursing education and research to identify cybersecurity-related educational needs and inform the development of targeted training interventions.

Keywords: Cyber hygiene, nursing students, reliability, scale adaptation, validity