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

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Health
• Psychometrics
• Sociology

Background:

• Spousal support is crucial for menopausal women's well-being.
• Existing tools for measuring spousal support during menopause are limited.
• This study addresses the need for a validated instrument to assess spousal support in menopause.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Menopausal Spousal Support Questionnaire (MSSQ).
• To provide a reliable instrument for measuring spousal support for menopausal women.
• To establish the psychometric properties of the MSSQ.

Main Methods:

• Sequential exploratory mixed methods were employed in two phases.
• Phase I involved literature review, interviews, and expert discussions for initial development.
• Phase II utilized exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for validation with a large sample.

Main Results:

• The final MSSQ comprises 17 items across four domains: appraisal, intimacy, emotional, and instrumental support.
• The instrument demonstrated good model fit (RMSEA=0.075, CFI=0.942, TLI=0.921).
• The MSSQ showed excellent reliability (CR > 0.6, AVE > 0.5, IR > 0.93).

Conclusions:

• The MSSQ is a psychometrically valid tool for assessing spousal support in menopausal women.
• The MSSQ can be utilized by healthcare providers as a screening tool.
• This questionnaire enhances the understanding and measurement of spousal support during menopause.