The Development of Construct Validation of Perception of Elder Abuse Questionnaire

The study was on the development of construct validation of the Perception of Elder Abuse Questionnaire. Three hundred [300] participants [220) women and 80 men with Mean age of 29.09 years and SD age of 9.78 were involved]. The prevalence and nature of this growing problem of abuse of the elderly has not been adequately addressed especially in Nigeria because it is not recognized as a serious matter. This growing problem has generally remained hidden from public view. The victims of abuse and others are reluctant to talk about it. This research aims to find out what people’s perception of elder abuse is and also to identify factors of abuse that are common in the southeastern part of Nigeria and suggest ways in which various sectors of the society might be mobilized in the prevention of elder abuse. The method used in the construct validation of this study includes the use of experts’ opinion in the content validation exercise, and the exploratory factor analysis. The analysis extracted two components from the 35 items which loaded significantly across the components at a coefficient greater than 0.35 with a reliability coefficient of Cronbach alpha. 0.8401 The components were neglect and psychological abuse. The result of the correlations and pilot study showed a reduction of the items to 29 and showed significant concurrent validity of the elder abuse scale with self-rating depression scale =0.95 at 0. 001. Similarly divergent validation was seen between the elder abuse scale and life satisfaction = -0.30, though not significant at the .005 level of testing. The discussion of the result was done in line with the dominant factors in the study and the need to improve assessments of elderly abuse in Nigeria.