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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2023

Open Access 01-12-2023 | Research

Psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the multidimensional social support scale (MSPSS) in a community sample of adults

Authors: Feten Fekih-Romdhane, Mirna Fawaz, Rabih Hallit, Toni Sawma, Sahar Obeid, Souheil Hallit

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2023

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Abstract

Background

There is a lack of methodologically strong measure to assess perceived social support among Arabic-speaking populations. Our main objective was therefore to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the Multidimensional Social Support Scale (MSPSS) in a sample of Arabic-speaking Lebanese adults from the general population.

Methods

We adopted a cross-sectional design involving a convenience sample of 387 non-clinical Lebanese adults aged 26.17 ± 11.47 years (58.4% females). Participants were administered a web-based anonymous questionnaire containing the MSPSS, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Post traumatic growth Inventory-Short Form. The forward-backward translation method was applied. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and gender invariance in the MSPSS were examined. McDonald’s ω coefficients were calculated as internal consistency indicators.

Results

The Arabic MSPSS and its subscales have a high internal consistency with McDonald’s ω values between 0.94 and 0.97. CFA indicated that fit of the three-factor model was acceptable. All indices suggested that configural, metric, and scalar invariance was supported across gender. Both genders exhibited no significant difference in all MSPSS dimensions. Convergent validity was supported by showing that all three MSPSS sub-scores and total score correlated significantly and positively with resilience and posttraumatic growth scores.

Conclusion

Although further cross-cultural validations involving other Arab countries and communities are still needed, we preliminarily suggest that this scale is applicable to the broad Arabic-speaking people for the measurement of perceived social support in clinical and research contexts.
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Metadata
Title
Psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the multidimensional social support scale (MSPSS) in a community sample of adults
Authors
Feten Fekih-Romdhane
Mirna Fawaz
Rabih Hallit
Toni Sawma
Sahar Obeid
Souheil Hallit
Publication date
01-12-2023
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2023
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04937-z

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