Psychometric Testing of an Arabic Translation of the Revised-Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) for Chronic Illness Patients

Background: Researchers lack a properly validated instrument to measure perceptions of chronic disease in Arabic language contexts. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Revised- Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) for Arabic speaking chronic illness patients.
Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the adapted English version of the IPQ-R for Arabic speaking chronic illness patients. The study instrument was an Arabic version of the IPQ-R prepared through a translation process. The reliability and validity of the instrument were assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Three hundred and sixteen participants (ages 16–79) from the Batna region in Algeria completed the IPQ-R.
Results: A total of 316 (100%) patients responded to this study. Regarding internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha a coefficient was consistently higher than 0.45. Several areas of fit were identified and substantial changes to the measurement model were made, such as the deletion of 22 items from the original 38 -item IPQ-R and two items from the original 18 causal items this accounted for 64.63% of the total variance, and the respecification of indicators had to be applied to achieve acceptable model fit. The final model consists of two sections: The 16– item Arabic IPQ-R, which had a good fit; (CMIN/Df = 1.30, P < 0.001, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.08, SRMR = 0.03), and was similar to the Arabic 16 causal items (CMIN/DF = 1.11, P < 0.001, CFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.080, SRMR = 0.02).
Conclusion: The factor structure concurred with prior finding despite differences to the type of sample and cultural considerations that might explain these findings. Replication of this study in Algerian patients with specific illness, such as silicosis, breast cancer and multiple sclerosis. Further psychometric testing on other large samples is recommended.

Keywords
illness perception; exploratory factor analysis; confirmatory factor analysis; chronic illness