Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

@article{184367,
        author = {MAKESH K G},
        title = {Developing and Validating a Scale to Measure Economic Advancement of SHG Member Beneficiaries of MEDP Intervention of NABARD},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {4},
        pages = {1235-1243},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=184367},
        abstract = {Purpose of the Study: Exclusion of women in development has created numerous adversities related to health, education, and income. In India, NABARD has instituted various empowerment programmes to benefit rural women members of SHGs for capacity building. The attempt of the paper is to develop a scale to measure the level of economic advancement achieved by women by participating in such programmes.
Design: An item pool was developed from literature, to be used for administration among rural women SHG members who have participated in the MEDP of NABARD. The data were subjected to Exploratory Factor Analysis, and assessment of reliability and validity. 
Findings: The 31-item pool was reduced to 18-item scale, composed of six dimensions. The loadings were high, and cumulative variance, eigen values, and Cronbach’s alpha computed were within acceptable levels. 
Implications of the Study: The study adds to literature by proposing a comprehensive multi-dimensional scale to measure economic advancement of rural women achieved by rural women. The scale can be used by policy makers to understand how capacity building policies and interventions affect the target beneficiaries. 
Originality of the Study: The study contributes to filling the gap in literature by proposing a new scale to measure economic advancement. A multi-dimensional scale has never been proposed in literature to examine economic advancement.},
        keywords = {Self Help Groups, Micro Enterprise Development Programme, Economic Advancement},
        month = {September},
        }