PSYCHOMETRIC PERFORMANCE OF THE SCALE FOR HOMOPHOBIA IN STUDENTS OF MEDICINE (IN SPANISH)

Introduction: sexual prejudice (homophobia) received major attention in the area of the biomedical and social sciences in the frame of the epidemic for HIV. The scale for homophobia (EHF) is one of the briefest instruments for the quantification of this construct in epidemiological researches. Objetive: to observe some indicators of validity and reliability of the EHF in students of medicine of a university of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Methods: a study of validity was carried out. 366 students participated, with ages between 18 and 30 years (M=20.1 SD=1.9). The female group represented 59.1% of the participation. There were estimated measures of validity (Exploratory factor analysis, correlations for convergent/divergent validity and differential item functioning according to sex) and of reliability measures (Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega). Results: A factor that explained the 43.8% of the variance, high convergent and divergent validity (r=0.82 and 0.03, respectively) and a differential functioning of items without impact for sex. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.78 and McDonalds’ omega, 0.79. Conclusions: EHF presents high quality of convergent and divergent construct without differential functioning of the items according to sex and good reliability of type internal consistency. It is necessary to know the psychometric performance of this instrument in other contexts in Colombia. Rev.cienc.biomed.2014;5(2):287-294. KEYWORDS Homophobia, Validity of test, Reproducibility of results, Medical students, Validation studies