The Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Sexual Assault Help-seeking Barriers Scale
Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Recent research indicates that rape and sexual assault continue to be among the most underreported crimes and that post-assault service use rates remain low. While a large body of research has sought to understand factors that deter help-seeking, existing measures used to assess barriers to help-seeking among sexual assault survivors have not been psychometrically validated. Moreover, many measures do not include barriers that are relevant to seeking assistance from a range of service providers, or relevant to survivors from ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds. The goal of this research project was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Sexual Assault Help-seeking Barriers Scale (SAHBS), a theoretically grounded and empirically based measure of barriers to help-seeking for sexual assault. Two studies were undertaken based on independent samples of adult women recruited from the Greater Toronto Area and online community (n = 206 and n = 320). Results of Study 1 revealed a 6-factor solution with the following factors: Stigma of Sexual Assault, Negative Attitudes towards Help-seeking, Distrust of Support Providers, Accessibility Issues, Minimization of Sexual Assault, and Lack of Support. Support was found for internal consistency and one-week test-retest reliability. Tests of known-groups construct validity, convergent validity, and concurrent validity provided preliminary evidence for validity of the measure. The SAHBS can be routinely used in future studies of help-seeking among sexual assault survivors, contribute to the identification of barriers faced by diverse groups of survivors seeking assistance from a range of support providers, and inform the development of interventions that can encourage help-seeking.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Victoria Sit
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Strong
OpenAlex ID: W2941332546