Public Perception of Government Intervention: Development and Validation of the Effects of the Nanny State on Smoking (ENSS) Scale

This study aimed to develop a unique, valid, and reliable scale to measure smokers’ acceptability of tobacco control policies. Based on the “nanny state” conceptual framework, a draft scale was developed through a systematic scale development process. In the research, the factors obtained from the literature and the items included were examined in consultation with experts, content validity was tested, and reliability analyses were conducted. The data for this study were collected from smokers aged 18 years and older in Türkiye. The draft scale was first administered to 405 smokers; exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the underlying factor structure of the scale and a 7-factor form with 30 items was obtained. The updated scale included 7 dimensions: Price, Plain Package, Non-Smoking Area, Media, Disturb, Nanny State’s Problems and Costs, and Public Perception. It was applied to 617 people who did not reply to the draft scale, and a confirmatory factor analysis was performed. As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis, the goodness of fit values of the scale were within acceptable limits. A scale was obtained to measure how those directly affected by the policy view the policies with the dimensions.

Cite this article as: Cansever, İ. H. (2025). Public perception of government intervention: Development and validation of the Effects of the Nanny State on Smoking (ENSS) scale. Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addictions, 12(1), 44-51.