Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire - Translation and Validation in a South Indian Language

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistic Psychology

Background:

• Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) encompasses sub-threshold autistic traits.
• The BAP Questionnaire (BAPQ) assesses aloof personality, rigid personality, and pragmatic language deficits.
• Validating BAPQ for the Indian population is crucial for accurate assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• Translate the BAPQ into Malayalam (BAPQ-M).
• Validate the BAPQ-M for psychometric properties in an Indian context.
• Establish new cut-off scores for BAP detection in India.

Main Methods:

• Translation of BAPQ into Malayalam.
• Assessment of reliability and internal consistency of BAPQ-M.
• Factor analysis and ROC curve analysis to determine new cut-off scores.

Main Results:

• BAPQ-M demonstrated good content validity (CVI ≥ 0.8).
• High reliability (Cronbach's α: 0.753-0.807) and test-retest stability (Spearman's ρ: 0.918-0.953).
• New cut-off scores were established with significant sensitivity and specificity for BAP detection.

Conclusions:

• The Malayalam BAPQ (BAPQ-M) is a psychometrically sound instrument.
• BAPQ-M is suitable for assessing BAP in the population of Kerala, South India.
• The study provides culturally adapted tools for BAP assessment.