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Objective. To assess the reliability and validity of a newly developed Gerontological Attachment to Place Scale (GAPS). Design. Descriptive using a mailed questionnaire. Population, Sample, Setting. 3,600 community – living older adults (age 65 plus) who were on the mailing list for the local Area Agency on Aging newsletters formed the population. The sample consisted of 675 completed returns (18.75%) from respondents (mean age 75.31; s.d. 6.8; range = 65 to 98). Concept or Variables Studied Together. Place attachment was conceptualized as feelings of closeness and security associated with a particular geographical setting. 8 items along two dimensions (felt closeness and perceived security) were constructed using qualitative data from prior studies as a guide. Methods. Psychometric testing included assessments of content validity and internal consistency reliability. Six experts in gerontological nursing completed Lynn ‘s (1986) Content Validity Index (CVI) to assess content validity. The reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha. Findings. Content validity was supported for 5 of the eight scale items. Cronbach’s alpha was .76 with all 8 items. Deletion of items showing low (< .30) correlations with total scale scores resulted in a 5-item scale with an alpha of .85. The three items deleted were the same ones that received low CVI rating by the content validity experts. Conclusions. The scale demonstrated initial evidence of both reliability and validity for this new tool. The reliability of the 5 – item tool exceeded the .70 threshold of acceptability for a new tool as defined by Kerlinger (1973). Content validity beyond the .05 level of significance was established using Lynn’s (1986) CVI procedure. Implications. Place and relocation issues represent important developmental tasks for older people. Measures of the quality of interactions between older people and their environment will greatly enhance our understanding of healthy aging.
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