1. Psychometric Evaluation of the Personal Feelings Questionnaire–2 (PFQ-2) Shame Subscale Among Spanish-Speaking Female Sex Workers in Mexico
- Author
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da Silva, Cristina Espinosa, Pines, Heather A, Patterson, Thomas L, Semple, Shirley, Harvey-Vera, Alicia, Strathdee, Steffanie A, Martinez, Gustavo, Pitpitan, Eileen, and Smith, Laramie R
- Subjects
Clinical and Health Psychology ,Psychology ,Mental Health ,Clinical Research ,HIV/AIDS ,Good Health and Well Being ,Female ,Humans ,Mexico ,Psychometrics ,Reproducibility of Results ,Sex Workers ,Shame ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,Personal Feelings Questionnaire–2 ,concurrent validity ,female sex workers ,reliability ,shame ,Clinical Psychology ,Applied and developmental psychology ,Biological psychology - Abstract
Shame may increase HIV risk among stigmatized populations. The Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 (PFQ-2) measures shame, but has not been validated in Spanish-speaking or nonclinical stigmatized populations disproportionately affected by HIV in resource-limited settings. We examined the psychometric properties of the Spanish-translated PFQ-2 shame subscale among female sex workers in two Mexico-U.S. border cities. From 2016 to 2017, 602 HIV-negative female sex workers in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez participated in an efficacy trial evaluating a behavior change maintenance intervention. Interviewer-administered surveys collected information on shame (10-item PFQ-2 subscale), psychosocial factors, and sociodemographics. Item performance, confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency, differential item functioning by city, and concurrent validity were assessed. Response options were collapsed to 3-point responses to improve item performance, and one misfit item was removed. The revised 9-item shame subscale supported a single construct and had good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .86). Notable differential item functioning was found but resulted in a negligible effect on overall scores. Correlations between the revised shame subscale and guilt (r = .79, p < .01), depression (r = .69, p < .01), and emotional support (r = -.28, p < .01) supported concurrent validity. The revised PFQ-2 shame subscale showed good reliability and concurrent validity in our sample, and should be explored in other stigmatized populations.
- Published
- 2022