Semahegn Agumasie, Torpey Kwasi, Manu Abubakar, Assefa Nega, Ankomah Augustine
Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, School of Public Health, College of Health Science, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana,
School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia,
Int J Womens Health. 2019 Jan 30;11:65-73. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S181385. eCollection 2019.
One-in-three women has experienced domestic violence, which is a serious public health problem and a human right violation. Domestic violence is a common life experience among women in Ethiopia. The tool used to assess violence against women (VAW) has not been validated to assess its consistency. Cronbach's alpha (α, or coefficient alpha) is a measure of internal consistency, or reliability, that is, how closely a set of items are related as a group. Reliability is how well a test measures what it should. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the inter-item correlation (reliability) of the tool adapted from literature.
A community-based study was conducted in Northwestern Ethiopia between November 15, 2017 and December 31, 2017. A total of 1,269 women at their permanent place of residence (specifically at their households) were recruited using the multistage stratified systematic sampling method. A structured questionnaire was adapted from literature. Also, 12 trained female data collectors collected the data using the face-to-face interview method. Data were entered into EpiData 3.1.0 and exported to SPSS 23.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis was carried out to estimate the reliability of the response(s).
Overall, Cronbach's alpha was higher than the minimum recommended value of 0.70. Cronbach's alpha for specific sections were 0.764 for women's decision-making autonomy (13 items); women's accepting attitude toward justified wife-beating (five items, 0.894); physical violence (seven items, 0.876); psychological violence (15 items, 0.925); sexual violence (five items, 0.812); and inequitable gender-norms (seven items, 0.867).
The tool used to assess domestic VAW in Northwestern Ethiopia had a high reliability. Therefore, researchers can adapt the tool and further assess its reliability in other settings to have a common and validated tool to study VAW in a low-income countries.
三分之一的女性曾遭受家庭暴力，这是一个严重的公共卫生问题，也是对人权的侵犯。家庭暴力是埃塞俄比亚女性常见的生活经历。用于评估针对妇女暴力行为（VAW）的工具尚未经过验证以评估其一致性。克朗巴哈系数（α，或系数阿尔法）是衡量内部一致性或可靠性的指标，即一组项目作为一个整体的相关程度。可靠性是指测试衡量其应衡量内容的程度。因此，本研究的目的是估计从文献中改编的该工具的项目间相关性（可靠性）。
2017年11月15日至2017年12月31日在埃塞俄比亚西北部进行了一项基于社区的研究。使用多阶段分层系统抽样方法，在她们的常住地（具体是在她们家中）共招募了1269名女性。从文献中改编了一份结构化问卷。此外，12名经过培训的女性数据收集者采用面对面访谈法收集数据。数据录入EpiData 3.1.0并导出到SPSS 23.0进行分析。进行描述性统计分析以估计回答的可靠性。
总体而言，克朗巴哈系数高于建议的最低值0.70。特定部分的克朗巴哈系数分别为：女性决策自主权（13项，0.764）；女性对合理殴打妻子的接受态度（5项，0.894）；身体暴力（7项，0.876）；心理暴力（15项，0.925）；性暴力（5项，0.812）；以及不平等的性别规范（7项，0.867）。
用于评估埃塞俄比亚西北部家庭中针对妇女暴力行为的工具具有较高的可靠性。因此，研究人员可以采用该工具并在其他环境中进一步评估其可靠性，以获得一个通用且经过验证的工具来研究低收入国家的针对妇女暴力行为。
