Reliability and validity of the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) in infertile people

Abstract

Abstract Background and objective Infertility is a global public health issue and may adversely influence marital quality. The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) is a quick, easy to administer and score, 3-item scale measuring marital quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the KMSS in Iranian infertile people. Materials and methods The research sample consist of 254 infertile people drawn from a referral fertility clinic in Tehran, Iran from February to May 2017. The participants were administered the KMSS, Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI-4), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and a demographic questionnaire. Tests of data quality included descriptive statistics of the data, internal reliability consistency, inter-item correlations, corrected item total correlations, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and convergent validity. Results The mean total KMSS score was 17.73 ± 3.02. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for KMSS was 0.901. All corrected item-total correlations and inter-item correlations were in acceptable range. Based on CFA result, the one-factor model was fully saturated, and all three factor loadings were significant and in the expected direction. The KMSS significantly correlated with CSI-4, HADS-anxiety and HADS-depression, indicating an acceptable convergent validity. Conclusion In summary, the present study provides further evidence that the KMSS is psychometrically sound and therefore it can be recommended for further use by researchers interested in the context of marital quality.