Greco Giulia, Skordis-Worrall Jolene, Mills Anne
Department for global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
The Centre for Global Health Economics, Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, UK.
J Human Dev Capabil. 2018;19(3):271-288. doi: 10.1080/19452829.2017.1422704. Epub 2018 Jan 25.
We report the results of a series of validity and reliability tests performed during the development of the Women's Capabilities Index (WCI) in Malawi. The WCI is a multidimensional measure based on Sen's capability framework for assessing women's quality of life. Construct validity was assessed by investigating the expected relationships of the dimensions with key socioeconomic characteristics. The majority of hypothesized associations were found to be statistically significant in the expected direction. This provides evidence that the index is measuring quality of life as intended in the conceptual model. Further evidence in support of the index's validity was given by the high degree of correlation between the WCI and another scale measuring comparable (but not identical) domains of quality of life. The results from the internal consistency and the test-retest repeatability also offered encouraging evidence on the reliability of the instrument. This is the first study to rigorously and comprehensively test for validity and reliability a capabilities index for a low-income setting. The results of the validity and reliability tests provide supportive evidence that a locally developed measure of capabilities can be used as a robust tool for the assessment of women's quality of life.
我们报告了在马拉维制定妇女能力指数（WCI）期间进行的一系列效度和信度测试的结果。WCI是一种基于森的能力框架的多维度衡量指标，用于评估妇女的生活质量。通过调查各维度与关键社会经济特征之间的预期关系来评估结构效度。发现大多数假设的关联在预期方向上具有统计学意义。这提供了证据，表明该指数正在按概念模型的预期衡量生活质量。WCI与另一个衡量生活质量可比（但不完全相同）领域的量表之间的高度相关性，进一步支持了该指数的效度。内部一致性和重测重复性的结果也为该工具的信度提供了令人鼓舞的证据。这是第一项对低收入环境下的能力指数进行严格全面的效度和信度测试的研究。效度和信度测试的结果提供了支持性证据，表明本地开发的能力衡量指标可作为评估妇女生活质量的有力工具。
