Scale Overview
The Maternal Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Accessibility Scale – META (Adolescent Version) was developed by Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, James Jaccard, Patricia Dittus, & Alida Bouris (2006). It is designed to measure Maternal expertise, trustworthiness, and accessibility. The scale is intended for use with Adolescents.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 9 items organized into 3 factors/subscales: Expertise, Trustworthiness, Accessibility.
| Factor / Subscale |
Items |
N |
| Expertise |
1,2,3 |
3 |
| Trustworthiness |
4,5,6 |
3 |
| Accessibility |
7,8,9 |
3 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Strongly agree, 2 = Moderately agree, 3 = Neither agree nor disagree, 4 = Moderately disagree, 5 = Strongly disagree.
The scale includes 3 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Expertise alpha = 0.72, Trustworthiness alpha = 0.82, Accessibility alpha = 0.73.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 3 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.