Adaptation and Psychometric Validation of the Teacher Thriving Scale in the Turkish Cultural Context

Abstract

This study aimed to adapt the Teacher Thriving Scale (TTS) into Turkish and to examine its psychometric properties within the Turkish educational context. The adaptation process followed internationally recognized guidelines, including forward translation, expert panel review, back-translation, and pilot testing. Data were collected from 466 teachers working at the preschool, primary, secondary, and high school levels. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) on the initial 12 items supported a dominant one-factor structure explaining 84.68% of the common variance, with factor loadings ranging from .867 to .962. Following a combined examination of inter-item correlations, preliminary CFA results, standardized residuals, modification indices, and the conceptual content of the items, three items (TTS1–TTS3) were removed. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of the refined 9-item unidimensional model yielded an overall pattern of generally acceptable fit (CFI = .99, TLI = .99, SRMR = .011). Because the RMSEA (.096) and χ²/df (5.33) values exceeded conventional thresholds, model fit was interpreted cautiously and in conjunction with the remaining fit indices. Reliability analyses of the final 9-item form indicated very high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .985; McDonald's ω = .98; Composite Reliability = .98), and the Average Variance Extracted (AVE = .85) supported convergent validity. Overall, the findings provide strong psychometric evidence supporting the Turkish version of the Teacher Thriving Scale for assessing teacher thriving in the Turkish educational context and suggest that it may serve as a useful measure for future research and educational practice.