Development and Validation of an Electronic Scale for Sexual Violence Experiences in Iranian Women

Abstract

Objectives: According to the evidence, 35% of women have experienced sexual violence worldwide. This study aimed to develop and validate an electronic scale for sexual violence experiences (SVE) in Iranian women. Materials and Methods: In this mixed-method study, we conducted an item pool by reviewing the existing sexual violence scales in the literature and sent the items to the expert team for initial consensus. Then, we measured the validity and reliability of the developed scale. The samples included 808 women (age range: 15-45 years) in Kerman province from October to December 2020. Results: The final scale consisted of 43 items. Face validity was achieved by applying the views of the target community. The content validity results were acceptable. The correlation coefficient between the Sexual Experience Questionnaire (SEQ) and the Domestic Violence Questionnaire (DVQ) with the SVE was 0.68 and 0.51, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (χ2 =27973.72, df=903, and P=0.001) identified eight factors. The results also showed good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha=0.9, Pearson’s correlation r=0.9, P=0.001). Conclusions: Since the SVE had good validity and reliability, the scale can be regarded as a suitable tool for measuring sexual violence among Iranian women.