Sleep disorders constitute an important public health problem. Prevalence of sleep disorders in Turkish adult population was investigated in a nationwide representative sample of 5021 Turkish adults (2598 women and 2423 men, response rate: 91%) by an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Insomnia was defined by the DSM-IV criteria, habitual snoring and risk for sleep-related breathing disorders (SDB) by the Berlin questionnaire, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) by the Epworth sleepiness scale score, and restless legs syndrome (RLS) by the complaints according to the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group criteria. Mean age of the participants was 40.7 ± 15.1 (range 18 to 90) years. Prevalence rates (men/women) were insomnia 15.3% (10.5%/20.2%; P < 0.001), high probability of SDB 13.7% (11.1%/20.2%; P < 0.001), EDS 5.4% (5.0%/5.7%; P: 0.09), RLS 5.2% (3.0%/7.3%; P < 0.001). Aging and female gender were associated with higher prevalence of sleep disorders except for habitual snoring. Prevalence rates of the sleep disorders among Turkish adults based on the widely used questionnaires were close to the lower end of the previous estimates reported from different parts of the world. These findings would help for the assessment of the health burden of sleep disorders and addressing the risk groups for planning and implementation of health care.EDS, excessive daytime sleepiness; RLS, restless legs syndrome; SDB, sleep disordered breathing. P*: Comparison of age groups. P#: Comparison of men and women, stratified for age groups. Mantel-Haenzel statistics was used for statistical testing. † Sleep related complaint.Sleep disorders in Turkish adult population 303

This paper was derived from the first author's doctoral thesis titled Detecting differential item functioning using SIBTEST, Mantel-Haenszel, logistic regression and Item Response Theory methods.

The aim of this study is to develop data collection tools for evaluation of school practice courses and for perceptions of teacher candidates regarding teacher competencies for effective teaching. Three hundred and eighty-eight last year undergraduate students from seven programs of faculties of education at two state universities participated in the study. Items of the 5-point Likert scale were written according to the dimensions of the constructs with respect to the related literature. The items were reviewed by three experts, one of whom is in the educational measurement and two of whom are in the science and biology education departments. Dimensionalities of the two-dimensional Evaluation of Practicum Scale (EPS) and one-dimensional Competency of Instruction Quality Scale (CIQS) were analyzed using factor analysis. Unweighted least squares estimation method and Promax rotation were used in the factor analysis procedures. Cronbach's α coefficients were 0.89 and 0.83 for the two dimensions of EPS and 0.82 for CIQS.

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