Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Arabic Version of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form Among Women in the United Arab Emirates

• Published in: Journal of human lactation Vol. 39; no. 1; p. 40
• Main Authors: Radwan, Hadia, Fakhry, Randa, Boateng, Godfred O, Metheny, Nick, Bani Issa, Wegdan, Faris, MoezAlIslam E, Obaid, Reyad Shaker, Al Marzooqi, Suad, Al Ghazal, Hessa, Dennis, Cindy-Lee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.02.2023
• Subjects: Breast Feeding; Female; Humans; Language; Mothers; Pregnancy; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Self Efficacy; Surveys and Questionnaires; United Arab Emirates; United Arab Emirates; breastfeeding promotion; maternal behavior; breastfeeding assessment; self-efficacy; Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale–Short Form; United Arab Emirates; breastfeeding; psychometric evaluation
• ISSN: 1552-5732
• DOI: 10.1177/08903344221084623

Breastfeeding self-efficacy as a construct has been theoretically and empirically linked to exclusive breastfeeding in studies globally using the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (BSES-SF). However, its application in the Middle East and North Africa region is limited, as it has not been validated. To psychometrically validate the BSES-SF among a sample of mothers in the United Arab Emirates. We psychometrically evaluated the Arabic version of the BSES-SF using a sample of mothers ( = 457) residing in the United Arab Emirates. We used translation techniques, item-test and item-total correlations, confirmatory factor analysis, tests of reliability, and tests of validity. Item-test correlations of scale items ranged from 0.67 to 0.84, while item-total correlations ranged from 0.58 to 0.81. The confirmatory factor model assessed the 14-item scale to be unidimensional with satisfactory model fit indices. Our findings suggested the Arabic-language version of the BSES-SF was a reliable measure (α = 0.95) with strong construct and discriminant validity. BSES-SF scores significantly predicted exclusive breastfeeding (aOR = 1.04; 95% CI [1.02, 1.08]) and exclusive duration (β = .06; 95% CI [0.4, 0.08]), which suggested strong predictive, validity after adjusting for parity, maternal age, maternal education, and study site. We have provided rigorous evidence that the BSES-SF is a valid and reliable measure of breastfeeding self-efficacy among Arabic-speaking women in the UAE. Interventions designed specifically to increase breastfeeding self-efficacy among Arabic-speaking women may be a mechanism to increase the suboptimal rates of breastfeeding exclusivity occurring in much of the MENA region.