title: Psychometric Properties of a Screening Instrument for Domestic Violence in a Sample of Iranian Women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Domestic violence against women is regarded as an important health problem among women and a serious concern in issues related to human rights. To date, a few screening tools for domestic violence exist for Iranian married women, but they assess only some of the domestic violence components.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study aimed to design and determine the validity and reliability of a screening instrument for domestic violence in a sample of Iranian women.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study was a cross-sectional psychometric evaluation conducted on 350 married women in Ilam, Iran, in 2014. The samples were selected through multistage sampling and the main method was cluster sampling. A 20-item, self-administered questionnaire was validated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). An Eigen value > 1 and a loading factor > 0.3 for each component were considered as indices for extracting domestic violence components. Reliability was calculated by test-retest and Cronbach's alpha. Also, the content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR) were used to measure content validity. The data were analyzed using SPSS-13 and LISREL 8.8 software programs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The self-administered instrument was completed by 334 women. The CFA and EFA methods confirmed embedding items and the three-factor structure of the instrument including psychological, physical, and sexual violence, which explained 66% of the total variance of the domestic violence. The ICC and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were > 0.7 for the components of the questionnaire. The test-retest also revealed strong correlations for each of the domestic violence components (r > 0.6).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The used instrument for measuring domestic violence had desirable validity and reliability and can be used as a suitable instrument in health and social researches in the local population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, IR Iran; Prevention of Psychosocial Injuries Research Center, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Taghi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Azadarmaki
authors.affiliation: Prevention of Psychosocial Injuries Research Center, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kassani
authors.affiliation: Prevention of Psychosocial Injuries Research Center, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, IR Iran; Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Rostam
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Menati
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Research Center for Health Sciences, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Jafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hassanzadeh
authors.affiliation: Prevention of Psychosocial Injuries Research Center, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Walieh
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Menati
keywords: Domestic Violence; Psychometric; Women