Developing and Testing of an Economic Index Tool for Abused Women With Children

Violence and poverty combine to severely compromise the safety, health, and functioning of women with major pass-through effects to their children. To reduce poverty and mitigate violence, measures are needed to assess economic status before and after intervention programs. The purpose of the study was to develop a new tool to assess women's various sources of income, to measure the degree to which the components of the tool are independent, and assess the usefulness of the tool to assess the connection of economic status and mental health functioning among abused women.

Using content and face validity techniques and exploratory factor analysis, the 5-item Economic Index Tool was derived that assesses formal and informal employment wages, family and government cash assistance, and child support. Concurrent and predictive validity models for both the raw and weighted scores were significant, χ² (1) = 65.02, p <.001, Nalgelkerke R² =.285 and χ² (1) = 108.44, p <.001, Nalgelkerke R² =.443, respectively. Both the raw and weighted scores were associated with increased odds of being above poverty, Odds Ratios were 1.242 and 1.306, respectively, and all p values were < 0.001. The Economic Index Tool revealed a positive connection of higher economic status and better mental health. The Economic Index Tool offers a rapid assessment of abused women's economic status that can be used to guide multifaceted intervention programs and measure program effectiveness.