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Cross-cultural adaptation and initial validation of the Arabic needs of hospitalized children questionnaire
Amel Abouelfettoh1,2,3, Hoda Ahmed Mahmoud3, Hoda Wahid Amer4
1College of Nursing, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, KSA, Saudi Arabia.
Insights
This study validated the Arabic Needs of Hospitalized Children Questionnaire, providing a reliable tool to assess pediatric patients' psychosocial and physical needs during hospitalization. This ensures better care and research for Arabic-speaking children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Psychology
- Health Services Research
- Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Instruments
Background:
- Hospitalization presents significant psychosocial challenges for children, including distress and loss of autonomy.
- Standardized tools are crucial for measuring children's self-reported needs across psychosocial, emotional, and physical domains.
- A gap exists in psychometrically robust and culturally suitable instruments for global health research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To translate and culturally adapt the Needs of Hospitalized Children Questionnaire into Arabic.
- To validate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the questionnaire.
- To provide a reliable assessment tool for Arabic-speaking hospitalized children.
Main Methods:
- The 16-item Needs of Hospitalized Children Questionnaire was translated and culturally adapted following international guidelines.
- The Arabic version was administered to 180 school-age children in Cairo, Egypt.
- Exploratory factor analysis, including Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Principal Axis Factoring, was used for validation.
Main Results:
- The 16-item Arabic questionnaire demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.83).
- Exploratory factor analysis confirmed construct validity (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin = 0.81), identifying four factors: Caring, Information, Activities, and Relationships.
- These factors explained 43.10% of the variance, with strong item loadings (≥ 0.40).
Conclusions:
- The Arabic version of the Needs of Hospitalized Children Questionnaire is a valid and reliable assessment tool.
- This validated instrument is essential for informing regional healthcare policies and improving clinical practice.
- It enhances child self-reported outcomes research and care for Arabic-speaking hospitalized children.
Background:
Hospitalization is a significant psychosocial event involving distress, anxiety, and loss of autonomy. It is essential to have standardized and reliable tools to measure a child's self-reported needs covering psychosocial, emotional, and physical domains. This ensures effective evidence-based practice and proper resource allocation. A major challenge in global health research is the scarcity of instruments that are both psychometrically robust and culturally suitable.
Methods:
The study aims to translate and culturally adapt the Needs of Hospitalized Children Questionnaire into Arabic, following international consensus guidelines, and to validate the Arabic version. The original 16-item Needs of Hospitalized Children Questionnaire was developed to assess school-age children's self-reported perceptions of the importance and fulfillment of their needs during hospitalization, demonstrating strong psychometric properties. Arabic-speaking hospitalized school-age children in medical and surgical units at the Children's Hospital in Cairo, Egypt, were approached to participate. The translated Needs of Hospitalized Children Questionnaire was administered through interviews conducted by the research assistant in the presence of mothers. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on the 16-item Arabic version of the Needs of Hospitalized Children Questionnaire, using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure to assess sampling adequacy. Principal Axis Factoring was also conducted.
Results:
The translation process yielded a 16-item questionnaire with no items removed or changed, achieving good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.83). Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the questionnaire, with data from 180 participants suitable for factor analysis (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin = 0.81, significant Bartlett's test). The study revealed four distinct factors: Caring, Information, Activities, and Relationships, collectively explaining 43.10% of the variance. Each factor included items with strong loadings (≥ 0.40). The Caring factor explained the largest variance (16%), followed by Information needs (10.60%), Activities (8.70%), and Relationships (7.80%), with all factors demonstrating satisfactory internal consistency (0.82).
Conclusion:
This study provides evidence that the Arabic version of the Needs of Hospitalized Children questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool. The successful validation of the questionnaire is crucial for informing regional healthcare policies, establishing standardized assessment protocols, and ultimately enhancing child self-reported outcomes research and clinical practice among Arabic-speaking hospitalized children.
