Psychometric properties of the Arabic Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ11-A)

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Science
• Psychometrics
• Occupational Therapy

Background:

• Occupational balance (OB) is crucial for health outcomes and is measured by the Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ).
• The OBQ assesses an individual's perceived occupational balance.
• Validating an Arabic version is essential for diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ11-A).
• Specifically, to assess test-retest reliability, content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and convergent validity.
• To establish OBQ11-A as a reliable tool for research in Arabic-speaking populations.

Main Methods:

• 103 participants completed the OBQ11-A twice for test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients).
• Content validity was assessed via participant agreement on survey relevance, comprehensiveness, and comprehensibility.
• Construct validity (factor analysis), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), and convergent validity (correlations with quality-of-life domains) were also examined.

Main Results:

• High test-retest reliability (ICC > 0.7) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.899) were found for the OBQ11-A.
• Most participants found the OBQ11-A relevant, comprehensive, and understandable.
• Factor analysis supported construct validity with high factor loadings for most items, and moderate correlations were observed with quality-of-life measures.

Conclusions:

• The Arabic Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ11-A) exhibits acceptable psychometric properties.
• OBQ11-A is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring occupational balance in research settings.
• This validated tool can aid in assessing rehabilitation outcomes and health indices in Arabic-speaking individuals.