Psychometric Evaluation of the Motivators and Resources for Trauma Recovery (I-MOVE) Scale among Gender-Based Violence Survivors

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a major public health concern with enduring psycho-logical and social impacts, yet survivor-centered tools that integrate internal motiva-tors and external resources for recovery remain limited. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Motivators and Resources for Trauma Recovery (I-MOVE) Scale, a strengths-based measure of trauma recovery among GBV survivors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 526 women with lived experi-ences of GBV, who were randomly assigned to exploratory factor analysis (EFA; n = 263) or confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; n = 263). Construct validity was further examined through convergent, discriminant, and known-groups analyses using established measures of meaning, coping, healing, trauma-related cognitions, normalization of vi-olence, barriers to help-seeking, depression, and posttraumatic stress. EFA supported a five-factor structure explaining 38% of the variance, which was confirmed by CFA with acceptable model fit. The overall scale demonstrated strong internal consistency (α = 0.89), with acceptable reliability across subscales (α = 0.61–0.83). Convergent validity was evidenced by positive associations with meaning, coping self-efficacy, and healing, while discriminant validity was supported by weak or non-significant associations with trauma cognitions and normalization of violence. Lower I-MOVE scores among participants with probable depression or PTSD supported known-groups validity. These findings indicate that the I-MOVE scale is a valid and reliable measure of moti-vators and resources for trauma recovery among GBV survivors.