Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ) Subscales: Development,Reliability, and Validity

ABSTRACT

The current study describes the development and evaluation of the reliability and validity of four components of a comprehensive assessment designed for the purpose of identifying women who manifest symptoms due to an intimate partner violence (IPV) relationship: The Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ). More specifically, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure, validity, temporal stability and internal consistency of four instruments for measuring current functioning of IPV survivors; (a) Interpersonal relationship (BWSQ-IR), (b) Sexual Dysfunction (BWSQ-SD), (c) Body Image (BWSQ-BI), and (d) Post-Traumatic Stress Checklist (BWSQ-PTSC). Overall, results indicate the BWSQ subscales have good temporal stability and internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis of the four subscales indicate that each has a unidimensional factor structure. Internal consistency was high for each of the subscales. A two-way mixed effects model, intraclass correlation was used to demonstrate a high degree of test-retest reliability. Convergent and discriminant validity was demonstrated by comparing each subscale with the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (AAS), the Derogatis Interview of Sexual Functioning – Sexual Response (DISF-SR), the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS) and the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI). The four instruments demonstrate sound psychometric properties as standalone measures as well as subscales of the BWSQ.     

Identifying Children in Middle Childhood Who Are at Risk for Reading Problems

The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate a universal screening battery for reading that is appropriate for older elementary students in a response to intervention model. Multiple measures of reading and reading correlates were administered to 230 fourth-grade children. Teachers rated children's reading skills, academic competence, and attention. Children were classified as not-at-risk or at-risk readers based on a three-factor model reflecting reading comprehension, word recognition/decoding, and word fluency. Predictors of reading status included group-administered tests of reading comprehension, silent word reading fluency, and teacher ratings of reading problems. Inclusion of individually administered tests and growth estimates did not add substantial variance. The receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis yielded an area under the curve index of 0.90, suggesting this model may both accurately and efficiently screen older elementary students with reading problems.