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

Abstract

Background: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

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

Keywords: Menopausal women; Menopause; Spouse support.