The development and psychometric examination of the partner investment in health scale

Abstract

Objective

Relationship partners’ impacts on health are not fully captured by existing measures. A measure that applies to a prevention context and accounts for both partners’ perspectives is needed. This work developed and assessed the psychometric properties of the novel Partner Investment in Health scale (PI-H).

Design

A cross-sectional design assessed participants (N = 261) using an online survey. Exploratory factor analyses were used to determine the PI-H factor structure.

Main Outcome Measures

Items assessed the person’s investment in their partner’s health and their perception of their partner’s investment in their health.

Results

A 2 factor structure underlying 24 items on the PI-H scale was supported. Factors represented 1) the respondent’s investment and 2) the respondent’s perception of their partner’s investment. The PI-H significantly correlated with related measures (e.g. relationship satisfaction, dyadic and communal coping; p < .05).

Conclusion

A full PI-H scale, two subscales, and a short version of the scale (8 items) are presented. Correlations demonstrated convergent validity and suggested the PI-H is distinct from existing constructs. Theoretical implications and applications are discussed.

Keywords:

• Scale development
• dyad
• couples
• health
• prevention
• social cognitive theory

Declarations

 

Disclosure statement:

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding details

This work was funded by internal funds from the University of Colorado Denver.

Data deposition:

Not Applicable

Ethics approval:

This research was approved by the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (COMIRB).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, SC, upon reasonable request.