Measuring perceived barriers to condom use: Psychometric evaluation of theCondom Barriers Scale

A programmatic series of three studies developed and evaluated the Condom B arriers Scale (CBS), an instrument measuring women's perceived barriers to condom use for prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. F ollowing item generation and selection, Study 1 evaluated the CBS in a samp le of minority women (N = 178), reduced the number of items, assessed the f actor structure, evaluated the internal consistency, and explored the conve rgent validity of the CBS. In Study 2, the CBS was administered to a cross- validation sample (N = 278). Confirmatory factor analysis and internal cons istency were compared against the original sample and construct, criterion, and discriminant validity were assessed. In Study 3 (N = 30), temporal sta bility of the CBS was evaluated. The resulting instrument appears to have s ound psychometric properties and can be used to measure a key construct in the leading theoretical models of health behavior for which a measure with known psychometric properties previously has not been available.