Development and validation of a psychosocial adaptation scale for migrant women (PAS-MW)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: • PAS-MW is a scale to evaluate the perception of psychosocial adaptation. • Developed to consider the specificities of migrant women. • Present a bifactorial structure: psychological and sociocultural adaptation. • Demonstrate strong psychometric properties and theoretical coherence. This study aimed to develop and validate a self-report scale to measure the psychosocial adaptation of migrant women, integrating dimensions of psychological and sociocultural adaptation. After a literature review and focus group with migrant women, the Psychosocial Adaptation Scale for Migrant Women (PAS-MW) with 22 items was developed. For the validation, we conducted (I) the evaluation of internal consistency, sensitivity, difficulty, and reliability of the items, (II) exploratory factor analysis, (III) analysis of construct validity (convergent, discriminant, comparison between known groups and correlations), and (IV) predictive criterion validity. Factor analysis identified two most significant factors, representing components of psychological adaptation (Factor 1) and sociocultural adaptation (Factor 2). The final scale showed great internal consistency (α = 0.87, ω = 0.875, KMO = 0.850, and Bartlett's significant). The construct and criterion validity were significant and consistent with the previous theory. The PAS-MW offers a specific instrument for assessing the psychosocial adaptation process of migrant women. Future studies could explore the application in diverse cultural contexts and compare its results between different groups of migrant women.
Source: Journal of Migration and Health
Authors: Patricia Silva, Henrique Pereira
Institution: University of Beira Interior
Language: English
Topic: Migration, Health and Trauma
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,670
OpenAlex ID: W4412865073