The Reliability and Validity of the Arabic Version of the Composite Abuse Scale

Abstract

Research that examines intimate partner violence (IPV) in the Arab world has been hampered by a lack of comprehensive valid and culturally appropriate measures. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the Composite Abuse Scale (CAS) in a sample of 299 Saudi women recruited from primary healthcare centers. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) did not support the original four-factor structure of CAS. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the item pool reliably distinguished four different types of abuse (physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, and control). Two items were dropped from the scale leaving a 27-item scale. The final four-factor model with 27 items was supported through further CFA, including analyses supporting the fit of the four-factor model on a higher level, second-order concept (IPV). Total and subscales CAS scores demonstrate excellent to good reliability and evidence of concurrent validity based on correlations with established measures of depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression [CESD]) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version [PCL-C]).