Psychometrics and Test Development

Trata-se na nova versão do IHS-Del-Prette,  atualizada em sua estrutura fatorial, ampliação de faixa etária e base normativa. Maiores detalhes sobre essa nova versão em http://www.rihs.ufscar.br/inventario-de-habilidades-sociais-2-ihs2-del-prette/
e https://www.pearsonclinical.com.br/ihs-inventario-de-habilidade-social2.html

Introduction: Research has asserted MCQ items using three response options (one correct answer with two distractors) is comparable to, and possibly preferable over, traditional MCQ item formats consisting of four response options (e.g., one correct answer with three distractors), or five response options (e.g., one correct answer with four distractors). Some medical educators have also adopted the practice of using 3-option responses on MCQ exams as a response to the difficulty experienced in generating additional plausible distractors. To date, however, little work has explored how 3-option responses might impact validity threats stemming from random guessing strategies, and what impact 3-option responses might have on cut-score
determinations, particularly in the context of medical education classroom assessments. The purpose of this work is to further explore these critically important considerations that largely have gone ignored in the medical education literature to this point. Methods: A cumulative binomial distribution formula was used
to calculate the probability that an examinee will answer at random a given number of items correctly on any exam (of any length). By way of a demonstration, a variety of scenarios were presented to illustrate how examination length and the number of response options impact examinees’ chances of passing a given examination, and how subsequent cut-score decisions may be impacted by these factors. Results: As a general rule, classroom assessments containing fewer items should utilize traditional 4-option or 5-option responses, whereas assessments of greater length are afforded greater flexibility in potentially utilizing 3-option responses. Conclusions: More research on items with 3-option responses is needed to better understand what value, if any, 3-option responses truly add to classroom assessments, and in what contexts potential benefits might be discernible.

FREE ARTICLE DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE AT: http://jamp.sums.ac.ir/index.php/JAMP/article/download/725/145

The goal of this present study is to develop a self-report questionnaire on classroom assessment practices of teachers that is psychometrically sound. The term “practices” is defined in this study as activities that teachers do in relation to conducting classroom assessment – from test planning to reporting to utilization of test results. In order to conceptualize teachers’ classroom assessment practices, an 89-item questionnaire was designed and administered to a group of primary school teachers from the Philippines, Nepal, and the Kyrgyz Republic. Using IBM SPSS Version 19, item descriptive statistics and psychometric properties of the questionnaire were determined. The factor structure was assessed using exploratory factor analysis with principal component analysis as the extraction method and variance-maximization with the Kaiser Normalization as the rotation method. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated to examine internal consistency reliability for the total scale and for each identified factor. The factor analysis supported a five-factor structure accounting for 70.71% of the variance of the questionnaire. Fifty-six items were retained and included in the final form of the test. The questionnaire showed satisfactory internal consistency yielding Cronbach  = .98 for the total test. Item-total correlation in the factors ranges from r = .41 to r = .89. The paper ends with a discussion of the five factors and some suggestions for further development and validation of the questionnaire including implications for effective classroom assessment practices.

In 1991, Bracken and Barona wrote an article for School Psychology International focusing on state of the art procedures for translating and using tests across multiple languages. Considerable progress has been achieved in this area over the 25 years between that publication and today. This article seeks to provide a more current set of suggestions for altering tests originally developed for other cultures and/or languages. Beyond merely describing procedures for linguistic translations, the authors provide suggestions on how to alter, use, and review tests as part of a cultural-linguistic adaptation process. These suggestions are described in a step-by-step manner that is usable both by test adapters and by consumers of adapted tests.

This study portrays the unique experiences of graduate students in education during the pandemic and the commonalities of the interpretations and essences of those lived experiences. In the Philippines, some graduate students managed to survive in their full-time teaching and graduate education that was entirely remote online classes, where everything was home-based during the pandemic. Sixty-eight full-time teachers enrolled in the different graduate degree programs in education in one of the prestigious universities in the Philippines volunteered to share their stories via emails and informal audio-video chat. Commonalities among the unique and multiple realities of the experiences portray the essence of pandemic phenomenon like balance and equanimity for survival when everything was home-based, the importance of holding on to the lived values and personal traits as a stronghold, fortress, and strong weapon during the crisis, and a clear focus on finishing a graduate degree amidst...

Probably the most difficult and time-consuming task in designing and conducting any program evaluation is developing the instrument to collect the information. Faculty usually search for already-existing instruments which may "fit the bill," but often these instruments don't exist, or need major revisions before using. As we develop a data collection instrument, the most important concerns are that the instrument be reliable and valid. Reliability and validity both indicate the extent to which error is present in the instrument. Reliability is an indication of the precision of the instrument-does it consistently measure whatever it measures? An instrument measuring reliably controls for random error in the measure. On the other hand, an instrument deemed valid is controlling for the systematic error in the measure. We can say that good validity assures that we're measuring what we've planned to measure. Reliability Low reliability indicates that the score produced by the instrument, which represents the characteristic being measured (attitude, knowledge, reactions), may fluctuate greatly if we used the instrument again with the same group of individuals. Numbers representing characteristics aren't

Making sense of a situation or issue, particularly if it is confusing, ambiguous or paradoxical, also requires sense to be made of human nature, of the cognitive and comprehension processes of those people who are trying to make sense of the situation. The perceptions of the situation or issue, what is imagined and what is sensed, occur at the boundary of the inner and the outer world and form the basis of the orientation process through which a person actually makes sense of the world. Most of this perceptual flow across the boundary between inner and outer worlds takes place unconsciously and so is often disregarded in typical sense making procedures. Instead of working with human nature as an animated perceptual flow, it is typically viewed as a set of inanimate categories or dimensions, which can be statically and prescriptively described. Rather than attempting to work with human nature in this mechanistic and largely ineffective manner, a human sense making framework is described, which actively engages with unconscious perceptual flows by working with language as a flow of dynamic vectors rather than just a set of simple static descriptions. This human sense making framework enables individuals and groups to orient themselves in complex and uncertain situations, so providing much greater levels of situational awareness. Introduction The behaviour of human beings, by their very nature, can often appear to be complex, irrational and paradoxical. Rather than embracing human nature and actively navigating its rich complexity, it can seem much easier to view it in a simplistic manner by describing it in the prescriptive categories and dimensions of psychometrics. One of the main reasons for using this simplistic approach is that it seems to provide an apparent level of certainty in understanding human nature and predicting human behaviour. The reality is, however, that this simplistic approach often results in situations where human nature becomes idealised and pathologised. Rather than attempting to describe an individual and their personality characteristics by placing them in a tightly defined prescriptive type, or locating them at some point along a trait dimension, an alternative approach is to place the individual at the centre of their own knowledge and experience, inviting them to engage with the dynamic feedforward– feedback perceptual loop across the boundary between their inner and their outer worlds. Standing at the centre of their knowledge and experience also naturally places an individual in the centre of a circle of their perceptions, with the circumference of the circle being the boundary between their inner and their outer worlds. This circle of understanding and awareness is neither fixed nor rigid. It is constantly and dynamically moving as perceptions emerge, exist and evolve along the boundary between inner and outer worlds.

The purpose of this study was to illustrate the impracticality of using mainstream formalized methods of intellectual assessments to assess Hmong American children, who came from an informal learning environment. One hundred and fifty-four Hmong American students, ages 5-18, and 51 Caucasian students, ages 5-14, were assessed using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children – Second Edition (KABC-II), along with 46 Hmong American students, ages 7-14, who were assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fifth Edition (WISC-V). Results showed that Hmong American students scored one standard deviation below the national mean on both the KABC-II and the WISC-V.  These low scores were observed from samples of kindergarteners, kindergarten through 3rd grade, and students in the upper-level grades compared to a sample of Caucasian students from the same area. Some implications and future research directions are discussed.

The Patient Health Questionnaire – PHQ-9 is a well known self-report measure of nine depression symptoms according to DSM-IV/DSM-V criteria. As the PHQ-9 is not yet validated in most of former Yugoslavian countries, the goal of this research was to determine its factor structure and psychometric properties on a large non-clinical BCS language speaking sample. A total of 1875 participants (61.5% female), the average age of 28.26 (SD=8.32) years, completed the PHQ-9 via an anonymous online survey. WLSMV/DWLS based confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that two-factor model with correlated (.83) Cognitive/affective and Somatic factors fits the data well (χ(26)=287.8, p<.001; CFI=0.972, NNFI/TLI=0.961, RMSEA=0.073, 90% CI [0.066, 0.081]), better than single-factor solution (χ(27)=444.2, p<.001; CFI=0.956, NNFI/TLI=0.941, RMSEA=0.091, 90% CI [0.083, 0.098]). The twofactor model also fits better in other research in non-clinical samples (e.g. palliative care), while unidimensi...

This paper describes the development and large‐scale test of a psychometric scale with a large sample of detectives from the New South Wales Police Force, Western Australia Police, Tasmania Police, Victoria Police and Singapore Police Force. The purpose of the scale is to quantitatively measure the extent to which investigative police adhere to Dean's (2000) four investigative “thinking styles”. The research produced further empirical evidence of Dean's (2000) theory, but also indicated areas where the scale and theory required readjustment and re‐conceptualisation. Future research should conduct further large‐scale tests of a revised instrument, which incorporates these changes. In particular, the potential overlap between Dean's (2000) thinking style constructs and other cognitive, psychological and even physiological traits demands further consideration before the instrument can be validated. Once a robust, valid and reliable instrument is constructed, it may be used to map the tacit investigative knowledge that exists in police agencies and thus, inform the management of that knowledge and the experts who hold it.

This paper reports the conceptualization and content validation exercise of a newly developed scale to measure the construct Shukur. This exercise was implemented to conceptualize the construct Shukur, construct the items that measure the construct, and assess whether the items in the scales represent the content areas of the construct specified in the scale. The conceptualization stage necessitated the developers to define the construct in order for them to identify the domains related to construct Shukur. As for the next stage is item construction, this exercise has engaged subject matter experts whereby the items have been subjected to the content validation exercise which gather the degree of experts' agreement on the essentiality of an item in measuring a domain. 10 subject matter experts have been engaged to rate the essentiality of the items in a measuring a particular construct. The subject matter experts deal with the items whether or not the sample of items have adequately represented a particular domain of the construct. Next, the developers also need to calculate the content validity ratio which was important to provide evidence on the inclusion of an item in the scales, and, in turn, leads to the index for high content validity.

This 40-page multicoloured booklet titled ‘Seguin Form Board Test of Intelligence:  An Updated Manual’, summarises and updates available but scattered literature on this ancient but even now popular test in the context and its continued interest and application in our country. The meaning or importance of form perception, history of form boards, various procedures of test administration, scoring, and interpretation is given in the book along with a brief review of research using this tool.

The publication is expected to be useful for students and professionals in the field of psychology. In this regard, this request is hereby made for your kind approval following which further action as deemed fit and necessary will be undertaken.

Objetivo. Establecer las propiedades psicométricas de una escala para medir dificultades en habilidades sociales para afrontar la agresión por pares. Método. Participaron 502 estudiantes mexicanos de educación
primaria, 279 niños (M = 10.52, DE = 1.13 años) y 223 niñas (M = 10.81, DE = 1.25 años). Se comparó el ajuste empírico de dos modelos (unidimensional y bidimensional), y se determinó la validez concurrente
de la escala al indagar la relación de sus puntajes con reportes de victimización. Resultados. El modelo bidimensional (vulnerabilidad y pasividad) presentó mejores indicadores de ajuste (X2 = 36.60, gl = 19, p = 0.009; X2/gl = 1.92; CFI = 0.98; AGFI = 0.96; RMSEA = 0.04 IC 90 [0.02 - 0.06]; SRMR = 0.04; AIC = 70.60) que el unidimensional (X2 = 290.42, gl = 20, p = 0.000; X2/gl = 15.27; CFI = 0.48; AGFI = 0.75; RMSEA = 0.27 IC 90 [0.20 - 0.25]; SRMR = 0.16; AIC = 337.42). Las dificultades en las habilidades sociales explican una parte significativa de la varianza de los reportes de victimización en ambos sexos (hombres: R2 = 0.20, f2 = 0.25; mujeres: R2 = 0.24, f2 = 0.32). Conclusión. La escala posee propiedades psicométricas que permiten su utilización en la medición de dificultades en habilidades sociales para afrontar la agresión por pares.

Studies have been conducted on concepts of academic self-efficacy. Academic self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief (conviction) that they can successfully achieve at a designated level on an academic task or attain a specific academic goal (Bandura, 1997; Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002a).

Το άρθρο «Ψυχομετρικά δεδομένα της Διαγνωστικής Δοκιμασίας της Βοστώνης για την αφασία σε υγιή πληθυσμό ενηλίκων: ο ρόλος της ηλικίας και του φύλου» δημοσιεύτηκε από τους Ηλία Παπαθανασίου, Δήμητρα Παπαδημητρίου, Βασιλική Γαβρίλου και Ασημίνα Μίχου το 2008 στο επιστημονικό περιοδικό «Ψυχολογία».
  Το άρθρο πραγματεύεται τη μελέτη και προσπάθεια στάθμισης της Διαγνωστικής Δοκιμασίας της Βοστώνης για την Αφασία σε ελληνικές νόρμες. Οι συγγραφείς αρχικά δοκίμασαν να δώσουν έναν ορισμό της αφασίας και ανέφεραν ότι η διαταραχή αυτή δε θα πρέπει να συγχέεται με άλλες διαταραχές οι οποίες πολλές φορές μπορεί να παρουσιάζουν παρόμοια συμτπωματολογία με την αφασία. Ακόμη, ανέφεραν με περιεκτικό τρόπο τη διαδικασία στάθμισης του εργαλείου στο εξωτερικό από το 1980 μέχρι και την προσπάθεια να προσαρμοστεί αντιστοίχως στον ελληνικό πληθυσμό.
  Oι Έλληνες επιστήμονες πήραν ως δείγμα 240 υγιείς ενήλικες και μελέτησαν την επίδραση του φύλου και της ηλικίας ως προς τις επιδόσεις στο τεστ. Για να έχουν έγκυρα και αξιόπιστα αποτελέσματα οι ερευνητές θεώρησαν αναγκαίο αφενός να αποτελείται το μισό δείγμα από γυναίκες και το μισό από άντρες και αφετέρου να το χωρίσουν σε τέσσερις ηλικιακές ομάδες τις οποίες συνέκριναν μεταξύ τους ως προς τις επιδόσεις στο τεστ. Οι συμμετέχοντες πήραν μέρος στις τέσσερις από τις πέντε δοκιμασίες του τεστ όπου άρχισαν να φαίνονται οι πρώτες δυσκολίες και περιορισμοί ως προς τη μεταφορά-μετάφραση του ξενόγλωσσου εργαλείου στα ελληνικά. Ορισμένες λέξεις ήταν ανοικίες στους συμμετέχοντες είτε από γλωσσική είτε από πολιτισμική άποψη. Έτσι, αρκετές λέξεις αντικαταστάθηκαν από πιο δόκιμες ελληνικές λέξεις και εκφράσεις οι οποίες ήταν καταλληλότερες για τα ελληνικά δεδομένα. Βέβαια, οι συμμετέχοντες χρειάστηκε να συμμετάσχουν και σε μερικές επιμέρους δοκιμασίες όπως το τεστ Mann-Whitney U το οποίο ανήκει στα μη παραμετρικά στατιστικά κριτήρια.
  Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας έδειξαν με ξεκάθαρο τρόπο ότι η Διαγνωστική Δοκιμασία της Βοστώνης για την Αφασία επηρεάζεται από δημογραφικά κριτήρια και πιο συγκεκριμένα από την ηλικία και το φύλο. Βέβαια, οι συγγραφείς αναφέρουν επίσης τους προβληματισμούς τους για τον παράγοντα του μορφωτικού επιπέδου και κατά πόσον αυτός θα ήταν ένας παράγοντας που θα μπορούσε με τη σειρά του να επηρεάσει τα αποτελέσματα της δοκιμασίας. Οι ερευνητές καταλήγουν ότι το θέμα αυτό χρήζει περαιτέρω διευρεύνισης καθώς ακόμη ότι υπάρχει αναγκαιότητα στάθμισης του εργαλείου εκτός από τον υγιή πληθυσμό και σε κλινικό πληθυσμό.

A battery of tasks measuring mental imagery skills, involving generation, maintenance and manipulation of different categories of images, has been proposed and validated in Italian samples composed both of children (N=556, age 8-13 years) and old people (N=308, age 65-93 years), divided according to the presence or absence of cognitive impairment.
The Mental Imagery Test (MIT) includes eight tasks, derived from different sources retrieved in mental imagery literature.
The test, and some task useful for discriminating imagery from perceptual and memory abilities, are presented in the 
attached file.
The tests are distributed by Hogrefe publisher.

Адаптація українською мовою методики TIPI С.Гослінгом, П.Ренфру і В.Свонном для дослідження п'яти факторів особистості (текст методики наявний) . Наведено дані про показники внутрішньої узгодженості  альфа Кронбаха, ретестову надійність, конструктну валідність перевірено за допомогою аналізу кореляційних зв'язків шкал ТІРІ та відповідних шкал п'ятифакторних методик («Локатора великої п'ятірки» (адаптація Л.Бурлачук, .Д. Корольов)

Over the past 25 years, a number of multidimensional measures of perfectionism has been developed. Based on different models of multidimensional perfectionism, these measures contain different numbers of subscales, and most of the time the different subscales bear different names. This presents a confusing situation to researchers unfamiliar with the often complex details of the perfectionism literature who want to conduct research on perfectionism in sport, dance, and exercise and need to make a decision as to what measure to use to capture individual differences in multidimensional perfectionism. The aim of the present chapter is to give researchers some guidance in this decision. To this aim, the chapter will (a) review the available multidimensional measures that have been published in international peer-reviewed journals and (b) provide a critique of these measures. In addition, the chapter will provide (c) recommendations on which measures to use and guidance on which decisions researchers have to make when using these measures to capture perfectionism in sport, dance, and exercise.

RESUMEN Objetivos. Evaluar las propiedades psicométricas y desarrollar una versión reducida de la nueva escala de ansiedad. Materiales y métodos. La nueva escala de ansiedad de 130 ítems (NEA-130) se aplicó a 254 pacientes psiquiátricos ambulatorios de un hospital general de Lima, Perú. Se realizó un análisis de componentes principales para datos categóricos (CATPCA) con los 130 ítems, y en base a los resultados de este, y a la relación de cada ítem con los valores de la impresión clínica global de severidad para ansiedad (CGI-S) se simplificó la escala. Asimismo, la CGI-S se utilizó para evaluar la validez concurrente. Resultados. La NEA-130 tuvo un alfa de Cronbach de 0,97 y un coeficiente de correlación de Spearman (Rho) con la CGI-S de 0,44 (p<0,01). Luego de la selección de los mejores ítems, se obtuvo una escala de 72 ítems (NEA-72) cuyo alfa de Cronbach fue 0,96, su Rho con la CGI-S 0,474 (p<0,01) y todos sus ítems tuvieron un coeficiente de saturación mayor a 0,4 en una sola dimensión según el CATPCA. Los puntajes de la NEA-130 y la NEA-72 fueron significativamente más altos en mujeres que en varones (p<0,01). Conclusiones. La NEA-72 presenta características psicométricas que sugieren su utilidad para medir ansiedad en nuestra población, sin embargo, los puntajes deben ser valorados de modo distinto en hombres y mujeres. ABSTRACT Objectives.To assess psychometric properties and to develop a shorter version of a new anxiety scale. Materials and methods: The 130-item new anxiety scale (NAS-130) was administered to 254 psychiatric outpatients of a general hospital in Lima, Peru. A categorical principal component analysis (CATPCA) was performed with the 130 items and based on these results and the relation of each item with a Clinical Global Impressions Severity Scale for anxiety (CGI-S) the scale was simplified. In addition, the CGI-S was used to assess the concurrent validity of the scale. Results. The NAS-130 had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.97 and a Spearman correlation coefficient (Rho) with CGI-S of 0.44 (p<0.01). After item selection, a 72-item scale was obtained (NAS-72) which had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.96 and a Rho with CGI-S of 0.47 (p<0.01). All items of NAS-72 had saturation coefficients greater than 0.4 in one dimension according to the CATPCA. NAS-130 and NAS-72 scores were significantly higher in women than in men (p<0.01). Conclusions. The NAS-72 has psychometric characteristics that suggest that it could be useful to measure anxiety in our population; however, the scores should be interpreted differently in men and women.

The advent of new technology has required people to disclose personal information. As social interaction tools, SNS (Social Networking Sites) are influenced by people’s willingness to post information about themselves; some users may be more inclined to engage in Self-disclosure than others (Loiacono, 2015). The purpose of this study was to construct a reliable questionnaire of idiographic (30-item) and nomothetic (10-item and 15-item) researches which comprised of 350 respondents. The constructed idiographic instrument obtained a Cronbach's Alpha of α=.926 and the nomothetic instrument with a Cronbach's Alpha of α=.893. Majority of the items (n=9) retained in the nomothetic instrument involved divulging personal information between an individual and an organization, and these items reflected a low-level of self-disclosure, which the researcher suggests that in such interactions between entities, disclosure of information is an important function of such interaction. Thus both the individual and an organization are vigilant about the nature and the extent of information to be disclosed.

Aim: To translate and cultural adapt the original English Integrated Palliative care Outcome
Scale “patient” and “clinician” versions into Portuguese. To test their psychometric
properties, namely reliability, validity, interpretability and sensitivity to change.
Methods: multi-centred observational study with 2 assessment points. Convenience sampling
was used. All patients attending the participant services will be screened for eligibility.
Inclusion criteria: ≥18 years, mentally fit to give consent, diagnosed with an incurable,
potentially life-threatening illness, read, write and understand Portuguese. Exclusion criteria:
patient in distress, cognitively impaired. A standard operating procedures manual
was developed and distributed to all centres in the person of the facilitator/champion
leading the study locally. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarise demographics
and clinical data. For psychometric testing the COSMIN checklist will be followed. Ethical
approval will be expected from all Ethics Committees and all participants will sign an
informed consent.
Results: 9 centres agreed to participate in the study. We received all 9 ethics approvals.
Conclusions: After developing a Portuguese version of the IPOS the measures will then
be ready to be tested regarding content validity, acceptability, clinical applicability,
reliability, internal consistency, construct validity and sensitivity to change.

English translation of the original German version: Stoeber, J., Otto, K., & Stoll, O. (2004). Mehrdimensionales Inventar zu Perfektionismus im Sport (MIPS) [Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport (MIPS)]. In J. Stoeber, K. Otto, E. Pescheck, & O. Stoll, Skalendokumentation "Perfektionismus im Sport" (Hallesche Berichte zur Pädagogischen Psychologie Nr. 7). Halle/Saale, Germany: Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Department of Educational Psychology.

Предлагается опросник привязанности к близким людям. Работа над методикой начиналась с адаптации опросника К. Бреннан, С. Кларк и Ф. Шейвера “Опыт близких отношений” (ECR) на выборке российских студентов (n = 240), однако в результате увидел свет новый психометрический инструмент. Представлены теоретические основания опросника. Проведена оценка психометрических свойств теста с помощью коэффициента α-Кронбаха, ретестовой надежности (n = 122), корреляционного анализа, эксплораторного и конфирматорного факторного анализа. В результате получены надежные, внутренне консистентные и воспроизводимые шкалы. Факторная структура нового опросника воспроизводит факторную структуру опросника ECR. Доказана конвергентная и дискриминантная валидность теста. Проведена оценка влияния на результаты опросника фактора социальной желательности. Приведена описательная статистика по тесту.

Victim blaming and self-blame are common experiences for women who have been subjected to sexual violence and abuse. This thesis employs a comprehensive mixed-methods approach from a critical relativist feminist epistemology which includes a review of the literature of victim blaming of women, the development and initial validation of a new psychometric measure of victim blaming of women (BOWSVA Scale), two qualitative studies exploring understanding of victim blaming and self-blame with women who have experienced sexual violence and professionals who work in sexual violence support; resulting in a final discussion proposing a new integrated model of victim blaming of women. Research aims and methodology

Study 1: Interviews with women who have been subjected to sexual violence and abuse This study utilised a semi-structured interview framework to explore the way women construct their understanding and experiences of victim blaming and self-blame through talk. Through interviews with nine women aged 19 to 76 years old, participants were asked to consider why they thought women were blamed for sexual violence, why women might blame themselves for sexual violence along with their own experiences of being blamed by others and blaming the self. The study sought to provide a more nuanced view of the experience of victim blaming and self-blame from women who had experienced diverse forms of sexual violence throughout the lifespan. The interview data was analysed using critical discursive analysis from a feminist perspective to search for patterns and themes in the way women talked about victim blaming and self-blame of themselves and other women.

Study 2: Interviews with professionals who support women after sexual violence and abuse This study utilised a semi-structured interview framework identical to the first study to explore the way the professionals working with the women construct their understanding and experiences of working with women who have experienced victim blaming and self-blame after sexual violence. Through interviews with eleven professionals working in rape centres and sexual violence support services, participants were asked to consider why they thought women were blamed for sexual violence, why women might blame themselves for sexual violence along with their own professional techniques used to try to deconstruct victim blaming and self-blame narratives of women they support. The study sought to provide a comparison between women who have experienced sexual violence and the professionals who support them. The main comparison being; do women seeking support and the professionals supporting them have a similar understanding of victim blaming and self-blame – and how do the professionals try to help women to understand that it was not their fault?


Study 3: Development and validation of a psychometric measure of victim blaming of women subjected to sexual violence and abuse Evaluation of the existing measures used in the victim blaming literature (Updated IRMAS, Mcmahon & Farmer, 2010; AMMSA, Gerger et al., 2007; RMAS, Burt, 1980; PVBS, Cramer et al. 2013) found that none of the existing psychometric measures were specifically built to measure the amount of blame being apportioned to the female victim and to the male perpetrator in common scenarios of sexual violence towards women. Instead, the psychometric measures were found to be testing for constructs such as sexism, rape myths, victim characteristics, perpetrator myths and general attitudes towards sexual violence. This finding led to the development and validation study of the Blame of Women subjected to Sexual Violence and Abuse Scale (BOWSVA Scale). In this study, previous measures were evaluated using concept mapping and content analysis to discover the gaps and problems with previous measurement approaches to victim blaming. The BOWSVA items containing manipulated sexual violence scenarios in which women were assaulted by men, were then developed after a team of peer experts were consulted for face validity. The resulting BOWSVA items were tested on over 450 adults in the general population to generate enough data to conduct factor analysis to develop and test the items as a psychometric construct to measure the apportioning of blame to women who have experienced sexual violence or abuse. A 7-factor solution was derived and accepted in principle, with much more research required to continue to validate the measure and items.

This study aims to validate the General Help Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ; Wilson, Deane, Ciarrochi, & Rickwood, 2005) among Filipinos. Exploratory factor analyses suggest a two-factor structure (Family and Non-Family) for past behavior, and three-factor structure (Family, Professionals, and Other Sources) for intent to seek psychological help. Intent and past help-seeking behavior were associated with stigma, attitudes towards help-seeking, social support, and problem severity. Implications regarding the use of GHSQ in studying Filipino help-seeking behavior are discussed.