Abstract

Introduction: Gender inequality and gender-based discrimination and violence undermine the opportunities and facilities of women and have negative effect on sexual and reproductive health behaviours. Given the importance of men's role in establishing gender equality, awareness of men's attitude towards gender equality is very important. However, there are no valid tools for measuring the attitude of men towards gender equality in Persian. Aim: This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the validity and reliability of Persian version of GEM scale in Male Students of Nursing and Midwifery school, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 2015. Materials and Methods: This study was a methodological and validation study. A total of 232 male students of Nursing and Midwifery School of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences were selected through census method. The data collection tool was Persian version of GEM-scale. Factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of the tool and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to investigate the reliability of the tool. The analyses were conducted using LISREL software version 8.8 and SPSS version 20. Results: The fitting indices of the confirmatory factor analysis model showed that the fitting of the two-factor model was appropriate (CFI, GFI, AGFI near 1, RMSEA index less than 0.1, and chi(2)/df ratio less than 3). Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole tool was obtained 0.79, showing that the internal reliability of the tool is also acceptable. Conclusion: The present study confirmed two-factor structure of the Persian version of GEM-scale, which includes inequitable gender norms subscale and equitable gender norms subscale. Therefore, this tool is suitable for assessing the attitude of men towards gender equality in Farsi-speaking men's society.