Psychometric evaluation to examine the effectiveness of a measure that assesses perceived legal advocate social support
Faculty-Student Collaboration
1
Faculty Sponsor(s)
Lynette H. Bikos, Ph.D.
Presentation Type
Event
Project Type
Completed quantitative research study
Primary Department
Clinical Psychology
Description
Legal advocacy programs, such as King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC), provide support and resources to reduce negative experiences like secondary victimization and victim blaming that can arise from the lengthy legal process for sexual assault. One avenue to reduce these outcomes is social support, an important predictor of psychological outcomes following traumatic experiences (Schweitzer, Melville, Steel, & Lacharez, 2006). We assessed the social support provided by legal advocates to individuals who have experienced a sexual assault during program evaluation of KCSARC’s legal advocacy services. Social support is beneficial when it has been adapted to the recipient and when the associated actions are perceived as helpful (Barrera, 1986). However, negatively perceived social support is associated with higher PTSD symptoms following sexual trauma (Andrew Brewin, & Rose, 2003). Social support can be provided by legal advocates; however, no social support measures exist which specifically assess social support from legal advocates. In our program evaluation, we chose and collaboratively modified 15 items from the Inventory of Socially Supported Behaviors (ISSB; Barrera, Sandler, & Ramsay, 1981) to use with KCSARC legal advocates. Participants identified a legal advocate as the source of support and the questions reflected the type of support they received (Gibbs et al., 2011). The original measure has adequate psychometric support; however, psychometric evaluation has not been completed for the modified social support measure. The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural validity of Modified Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (MISSB) using confirmatory factor analysis. The program evaluation has been an ongoing longitudinal project that began in 2013. Participants over 18 years of age and who identified as female were included in the analyses. They completed a hard copy of the survey three times, approximately once every three months, and they received monetary incentives provided by KCSARC. The results will determine the psychometric effectiveness of this measure in assessing perceived social support provided by legal advocates, potentially providing a way to assess the impact of this type of social support.
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Additional Rights Information
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Psychometric evaluation to examine the effectiveness of a measure that assesses perceived legal advocate social support
Legal advocacy programs, such as King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC), provide support and resources to reduce negative experiences like secondary victimization and victim blaming that can arise from the lengthy legal process for sexual assault. One avenue to reduce these outcomes is social support, an important predictor of psychological outcomes following traumatic experiences (Schweitzer, Melville, Steel, & Lacharez, 2006). We assessed the social support provided by legal advocates to individuals who have experienced a sexual assault during program evaluation of KCSARC’s legal advocacy services. Social support is beneficial when it has been adapted to the recipient and when the associated actions are perceived as helpful (Barrera, 1986). However, negatively perceived social support is associated with higher PTSD symptoms following sexual trauma (Andrew Brewin, & Rose, 2003). Social support can be provided by legal advocates; however, no social support measures exist which specifically assess social support from legal advocates. In our program evaluation, we chose and collaboratively modified 15 items from the Inventory of Socially Supported Behaviors (ISSB; Barrera, Sandler, & Ramsay, 1981) to use with KCSARC legal advocates. Participants identified a legal advocate as the source of support and the questions reflected the type of support they received (Gibbs et al., 2011). The original measure has adequate psychometric support; however, psychometric evaluation has not been completed for the modified social support measure. The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural validity of Modified Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (MISSB) using confirmatory factor analysis. The program evaluation has been an ongoing longitudinal project that began in 2013. Participants over 18 years of age and who identified as female were included in the analyses. They completed a hard copy of the survey three times, approximately once every three months, and they received monetary incentives provided by KCSARC. The results will determine the psychometric effectiveness of this measure in assessing perceived social support provided by legal advocates, potentially providing a way to assess the impact of this type of social support.
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Comments
This poster was also presented at Western Psychological Association Pasadena CA April 2019