Development and Psychometric Evaluation of Two Scales Assessing Food Allergy Attitudes and Practices Among Food and Beverage Employees: A Preliminary Study

This study aimed to develop two instruments assessing food allergy attitudes and practices among food and beverage employees and to evaluate their psychometric properties. A methodological design was used with 110 employees of a hotel food and beverage department in Beyoğlu, İstanbul. Items were generated from the literature and revised based on expert opinion. Construct validity was examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and reliability using Cronbach’s alpha and item–total correlations. The 13-item Attitude Towards Food Allergies Scale showed a four-factor structure explaining 69.18% of the variance (KMO = 0.787; α = 0.811). The 12-item Food Allergy Practices Scale showed a three-factor structure explaining 65.29% of the variance (KMO = 0.818; α = 0.818). Some subscales consisting of two or three items showed low internal consistency and should be interpreted with caution. Mean scores were 40.19 ± 6.43 (attitude; range 0–52) and 21.29 ± 3.47 (practice; range 0–24). Attitude and practice scores were moderately and positively correlated (r = 0.436, p < 0.001). Both scales demonstrated acceptable preliminary validity and reliability for assessing food allergy attitudes and practices in food service settings; confirmatory studies in larger and more diverse samples are recommended.