Measurement invariance of a household water insecurity metric in Greater Accra, Ghana: implications for test-retest reliability

Keywords: water insecurity, global health, measurement, reliability, West Africa
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 8

Abstract

The mitigation of household water insecurity is recognized as an important component of global poverty alleviation, but until recently was difficult to measure. Several new metrics of household water insecurity have been proposed and validated, but few have been field-tested for reliability in diverse contexts. We used confirmatory factor analysis to test the psychometric equivalence of one such metric—the Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) scale—across two survey waves administered 18 months apart in similar climatic conditions among 98 households in a peri-urban community outside of Accra, Ghana. The HWISE metric was not equivalent across survey waves, which may be attributable to the small sample size, subtle instrumentation changes, or other unobserved factors. Test-retest reliability may also be difficult to achieve given the dynamic nature of household water use, and we discuss the implications of using household water insecurity metrics as longitudinal measures of well-being in global anti-poverty programs.