Open AccessPsychometric Evaluation of the Personal Feelings Questionnaire–2 (PFQ-2) Shame Subscale Among Spanish-Speaking Female Sex Workers in Mexico
Author(s) -
Cristina Espinosa da Silva,
Heather A. Pines,
Thomas L. Patterson,
Shirley J. Semple,
Alicia Vera,
Steffanie A. Strathdee,
Gustavo Martínez,
Eileen V. Pitpitan,
Laramie R. Smith
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
assessment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.59
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1552-3489
pISSN - 1073-1911
DOI - 10.1177/1073191120981768
Subject(s) - shame , psychology , clinical psychology , differential item functioning , cronbach's alpha , psychosocial , feeling , concurrent validity , confirmatory factor analysis , construct validity , psychometrics , psychiatry , internal consistency , social psychology , structural equation modeling , item response theory , statistics , mathematics
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.