Psychometric Analysis of an Intersectional Stigma Scale for Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence in Botswana

In many parts of the world, the silence surrounding domestic violence is not just a lack of words; it is a heavy social weight. When a woman suffers abuse from a partner, she often faces a second, invisible injury: the shame and judgment from her community. This shame is not a single feeling but a complex mix of reactions. It includes the fear that neighbors will blame her for the abuse, the belief that she has failed her role as a wife, and the worry that she will be cast out if she tries to leave. Researchers call this "intersectional stigma" because it happens where different pressures meet: the violence itself, the cultural rules about how women should behave, and the fear of losing one's place in the family and society. Understanding this specific kind of shame is crucial because it often stops women from seeking help, trapping them in dangerous situations. Without a way to measure exactly how this shame feels in a specific culture, it is difficult to design support systems that actually work.

A team of researchers in Botswana set out to build a tool to measure this unique experience. They knew that standard questions about stigma, often developed in Western countries, might miss the specific cultural nuances of life in Botswana. In this society, deep-seated traditions and religious beliefs shape how women are expected to live. A woman is often taught to endure hardship for the sake of her marriage and children, and to keep family conflicts private. When a woman experiences violence and then tries to leave or seek outside help, she may be seen not just as a victim, but as someone who has broken these sacred social contracts. The researchers wanted to create a scale that could capture this specific blend of being a victim of violence and being judged for not conforming to these cultural expectations.

To do this, the team first listened to the women themselves. They spoke with service providers, held focus groups, and conducted in-depth interviews with women in both city centers and nearby towns. They asked what mattered most to them in their daily lives and what fears kept them silent. They discovered that for many women, the core of their identity was tied to being a supportive wife, raising children well, and maintaining a respected place in the community. They also found that women who left violent partners were often criticized for failing to "persevere" in their marriage or for bringing shame to the family. Using these insights, the researchers drafted a new list of questions. These questions did not just ask, "Do you feel ashamed?" Instead, they asked about what the community thinks, such as whether people believe a woman who leaves a violent husband is a failure or a bad mother. This approach allowed them to measure the pressure of the community's gaze, which is often more powerful than personal feelings of shame.

The team tested this new tool, which they named the Botswana Culture-Salient Intersectional IPV Stigma Scale, with 400 women. The group included 217 women who had experienced intimate partner violence and 183 women who had not. The researchers asked everyone to answer the new questions, along with other standard questions about their mental health, their beliefs about gender roles, and their experiences with abuse. They used statistical methods to see if the questions grouped together in a way that made sense, essentially checking if the tool was measuring one clear idea rather than a confusing mix of unrelated thoughts. The analysis showed that the tool worked well. It reduced the original long list of questions down to a concise set of 11 items that formed a single, clear picture of the stigma these women face. The tool proved to be reliable, meaning it gave consistent results, and it fit the data from the women's answers very closely.

When the researchers looked at the results, they found that the new scale successfully captured the reality of the women's lives. For the women who had experienced violence, higher scores on the scale—meaning they felt more stigma—were linked to more severe abuse and more psychological harm. These women reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. The scale also showed that these women felt a strong connection to the harmful beliefs held by their communities, such as the idea that a wife must obey her husband or that she is to blame for the violence. Interestingly, the scale also worked for the women who had not experienced violence. Even though they had not been abused, their answers on the scale were linked to their own mental health and their views on gender roles. This suggests that the fear of being judged for not following cultural rules is a powerful force that affects all women in the community, not just those who have suffered abuse.

One of the most significant findings was how the new scale differed from older tools used in other countries. The older scales often focused on the direct actions of the abuser or the personal feelings of the victim. The new scale, however, highlighted the cultural pressure to stay in a marriage and the shame of leaving. It showed that for women in Botswana, the stigma is deeply tied to the fear of failing to be a "good" wife or mother according to local traditions. The researchers found that the new tool did not just measure the pain of the violence itself, but the heavy burden of the social expectations that make it so hard to escape. This distinction is vital because it means that helping these women requires more than just safety planning; it requires addressing the cultural beliefs that silence them.

The study also revealed that the link between stigma and mental health was complex. While the new scale was strongly connected to depression and anxiety among women who had experienced violence, it showed a different pattern for those who had not. For the women without a history of abuse, the scale was linked to general anxiety and a sense of having fewer people to rely on for support. This suggests that the pressure to conform to strict gender roles creates a background level of stress for all women, but it becomes a crushing weight for those who are already suffering from violence. The researchers noted that the tool did not find a strong link between this specific type of stigma and alcohol use, indicating that the mental health impacts are more closely tied to emotional distress than to substance use in this context.

The authors of the study are careful to note that their work is a first step. The women they interviewed were not a random sample of all women in Botswana, so the results cannot be applied to every single woman in the country without further study. They also acknowledged that their tool measures what women perceive the community thinks, rather than what the community actually thinks, though these two things are often closely linked. Despite these limitations, the researchers believe they have created a vital instrument. It is a way to put a name and a number to the invisible social forces that keep women trapped. By understanding exactly how culture and violence intersect to create shame, health workers and policymakers can begin to design interventions that speak directly to these fears. The goal is to create a world where a woman can seek help without feeling that she has lost her dignity or her place in her community. This new scale offers a way to measure progress toward that goal, ensuring that support systems are built on a true understanding of the women they are meant to serve.