CONSTRUCTION AND VALIDATION OF PSYCHO-SYMPTOMOLOGY OF HIRSUTISM SCALE FOR HIRSUTE WOMEN

Abstract

Hirsutism is characterized by the presence of excess terminal hairs in androgen-sensitive areas and can cause certain psycho-social issues in women. This study constructs the Psycho-Symptomology of Hirsutism Scale (PSOHS). Initial screening by mFGS, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was carried out on sample size of 667, 274 and 226, respectively. The literature review, semi-structured interview and expert opinion led to an initial item pool of 25 items that was reduced to 22 items after the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test of normality. After the exploratory analysis by EFA, 16 items were finalized and confirmed by CFA. A two-factor structure model arose with ten items under Anxiety & OCD and six items under the depression subscale. The reliability coefficient of psycho-symptomology of hirsutism and its two subscales, depression and OCD & anxiety, was found to be as .93, .92 and .88, respectively, which designates reasonable internal consistency. The PSOHS is a reliable and valid scale to measure the psychological symptoms of hirsutism for Pakistani Hirsute women