DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF SOCIAL COMPARISON SCALE FOR WOMEN WITH INFERTILITY IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The study was designed to construct a valid and reliable social comparison scale for women with infertility (SCS-WI) in Pakistan. METHODS: A mixed-method approach with purposive sampling techniques was used to construct the scale. Study duration was 13 months and was set in private and government hospitals and clinics of major cities of four provinces of Pakistan. Factor structure of 37 item with primary infertility was explored through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on a sample of 215 women with primary infertility with age range from 20-45(Mage= 31.03; SD= 6.18) years. The obtained factor structure of Social Comparison Scale for Women with Infertility (32 items) was further confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on a sample of 210 women with primary infertility whose ages ranged between 20 years and 45 years (Mage =32.42, SD=5.49). RESULTS: Principal component analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation method yielded three factors (viz., social distress, emotional burden and personal incapacities) and accounted for 63.37% variance and all 32 items of the scale were retained. The CFA supported the measurement structure of SCS-WI retained after EFA. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the scale was 0.95 (alphas range from .85-.90 for subscales) with sound convergent and divergent validity (r = 0.37, p = 0.05) (r = -0.70, p<0.001) respectively. Test re-test reliability was (r = 0.93, p < 0.001).CONCLUSION: Social comparison scale for women with infertility is a valid scale with good items homogeneity, internal consistency and a revelatory pattern of validity.