Development of a resilience scale for Thai substance-dependent women: A mixed methods approach

The purpose of this study was to develop a resilience scale based on the experiences of substance-dependent women in Thailand and evaluate its validity and reliability. A sequential exploratory mixed methods design was employed as the main methodology to develop the resilience scale according to the results from qualitative data by analyzing focus group discussions of 13 participants. Then, the scale was administered to 252 substance-dependent women from four substance-treatment centers. The psychometric properties were explored with an index of item objective congruence (IOC), Pearson correlation, second-order confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficient to estimate the quantitative data. The qualitative results showed that resilience is defined by three themes: individual, family and community factors, consisted of 13 different categories. The quantitative results also revealed that all 71 items in the resilience scale passed the IOC criteria, convergence and construct validity. The goodness-of-fit indices demonstrated that the resilience model was consistent with the empirical data. (Chi-square=74.28, df=59, p-value=0.08, RMSEA=0.03, SRMR=0.04, NNFI=0.99, CFI=0.99, GFI=0.96). The internal consistency, assessed by a Cronbach's alpha score of 0.92, can be interpreted as demonstrating high reliability. Furthermore, the structure of the resilience scale was confirmed by the available resilience literature. This study can help clinicians gain a more comprehensive understanding regarding the complex process of resilience among substance-dependent women and aid them in providing these women with the appropriate interventions.