Exploring The Difficulties Of Cross-Cultural Adaptation: An Overview Of The A-Soho-5 Study

Abstract

Aim: To describe pilot testing of the Scale of Oral Health Outcomes for 5-year-old children (SOHO-5), including the evaluation of its psychometric properties subsequent to its Cross-Cultural Adaptation (CCA) to the Arabic language.

Methodology: A pre-test was conducted among 32 pairs of five-year old children and their parents total of 64 participants. Reliability assessment was through computing Cronbach's alpha coefficient and assessing inter-item correlation, and Item-total score correlation. Construct Validity was assessed using pearson's correlation to examine associations between total score of the draft Arabic-SOHO-5(A-SOHO-5) and the original version of SOHO-5. Face validity was assessed by gathering participant feedback on the relevance and appropriateness of A-SOHO-5 items. Content validity was established through the insights of experts engaged in both the synthesis process and the final expert committee.

Results: Both the child self-report and parental proxy report versions of the questionnaire, exhibited satisfactory face validity. Cronbach's alpha scores were 0.93 and 0.72 for the child and parental questionnaires, respectively. The inter-item correlations were positively correlated for both versions of the questionnaire, with the exception of one item in the parent's version. The item-total correlations were positive in both versions and exceeded the arbitrary threshold of 0.20. Parent’s A-SOHO-5 scores showed significant associations withthe original Scale of English SOHO-5 (E-SOHO-5).

Conclusion: This study established the validity and reliability of the A-SOHO-5 as a suitable measure for Oral HealthRelated Quality of Life (OHRQoL) among Arabic-speaking five-year-old children in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).