Development and Validation of the African American Women's Shifting Scale (AAWSS)

Objective: The purpose of this research was to develop and validate an instrument to measure shifting or self-altering strategies among African American women. Method: A 13-item instrument was developed to measure aspects of shifting phenomena based on the empirical literature, feedback from focus groups, and cultural experts. The initial validation study, using principal axis analysis, was conducted with a national sample of 318 African American women. A second independent national sample of 190 African American women provided data for a confirmatory factor analysis. Results: Results indicated that the inventory was composed of the following 3 factors: Strong Black Woman, Awareness of Shifting Behavior, and Sensitivity to the Perceptions of Blacks. Conclusions: A structural model was developed based on the Multicultural Assessment-Intervention Process (MAIP) framework that allowed for the exploration of the shifting construct. Implications for future research are discussed.