Translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and measurement properties of the Arabic version of the fear avoidance components scale

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to translate, validate, and cross-culturally adapt the original FACS into the Arabic language.

Methods: The English version of the FACS was translated and culturally adapted into Arabic following international guidelines. The psychometric properties of the final version of the FACS-Arabic (FACS-A) were tested among 119 patients with different musculoskeletal (MSK) pain disorders.

Results: The Cronbach's α for the FACS-A was 0.86. The test-retest reliability, measured with intraclass correlation coefficient, was 0.80. The FACS-A showed positive significant correlations with other psychological patient-reported measures, including the pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) (r = 0.545); p ≤ 0.01), Brief Pain Inventory (BPI)-pain score (r = 0.546; p ≤ 0.01), BPI-pain interference score (r = 0.511; p ≤ 0.01), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (r = 0.451, 0.336, respectively; p ≤ 0.01). Confirmatory factor analysis of the FACS-A confirmed the two-factor structure found in the original English version.

Conclusion: This study determined the FACS-A to be a reliable and valid tool for the assessment of the fear-avoidance beliefs in Arabic-speaking individuals with MSK pain disorders.

Keywords: Arabic translation; Fear-avoidance beliefs; cultural adaptation; fear-avoidance components scale; psychometric properties.