A quantitative research study exploring translation, content validation, and crosscultural adaptation of the Arabic version of General Risk-taking Propensity Scale (GRiPS) with school-aged adolescents in Sur City in Oman

• Main Author: Al-Alawi, Muna Salim Khamis
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh 2022

Background and purposes: Epidemiology and prevention interventions programmes for risk-taking behaviours have been the target themes of many studies. In Arabic-speaking countries, including Oman, where this study is based, the prevalence of engagement in various risk-taking behaviours are worrying, particularly amongst school-aged adolescents. The General Risk-Taking Propensity Scale (GRiPS) is a valid and reliable scale in English for measuring general risk attitudes. There is no reliable and valid version of the GRiPS in Arabic. The purpose of this study was to describe the systematic instrument translation, content validation and cross-cultural adaptation processes of the GRiPS scale into Arabic version. Methods: in this study, a quantitative, and methodological methods using forward-backward translation and content validation indexing based approaches. Two panels (7 bilingual professional experts from education and health fields, and 24 school-aged adolescents panel) participated in the validation of this translation. Two phases were conducted: the translation process, and the content validation processes. The Item-Content Validity Index (I-CVI) and modified Kappa statistics were calculated. The translation, content validation, and cross-cultural adaptation processes resulted in the final Arabic version of the GRiPS scale. Results: The translated Arabic version of the GRiPS Scale is reliable and valid to be used to school-aged adolescents in Oman, including all Arabic-speaking adolescents in the world (reliability scored 0.80, and overall scale scored 0.90). Only two items (4 and 7) scored lower than 0.80 in readability and simplicity scores. There were minor gender differences between girls and boys. Conclusion: The study provided the first reliable and valid Arabic version of the GRiPS scale. Using appropriate translation, content validation, cross-cultural adaptation guidelines for adolescents and their parents in Oman is highly recommended in future studies.