Developing and validating the Menopausal Spousal Support Questionnaire (MSSQ) for menopausal women

The spouse is the ideal person for providing comprehensive and sustainable support for menopausal women. However, existing validated questionnaires to measure such support are limited. This study developed and validated a new instrument, the Menopausal Spousal Support Questionnaire (MSSQ), for measuring spouses' support for menopausal women, and validated its psychometric properties.

The MSSQ was developed and then validated using sequential exploratory mixed methods in two phases. In Phase I, the MSSQ was developed based on a literature review, in-depth interviews with 13 menopausal women and discussions within the research team. This was followed by Phase II, in which a two-step validation process was conducted to perform (a) an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with data from 146 menopausal women and (b) a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with data from 431 menopausal women. The results were used to determine the psychometric properties of the newly developed MSSQ.

The final MSSQ consisted of 17 items in four domains: appraisal support, intimacy support, emotional support and instrumental support. The modelling results demonstrated a good model fit: root mean square of error approximation (RMSEA) = 0.075, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.942, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.921, chi-square/degree of freedom (ChiSq/df) = 3.546). The scale also proved to be reliable: composite reliability (CR) > 0.6, average variance extracted (AVE) > 0.5, internal reliability (IR) > 0.93.

The MSSQ is psychometrically valid for measuring spousal support for menopausal women and could also serve as a screening tool for healthcare providers.