The Arabic Control Attitudes Scale-Revised: Method Effect (Negatively Worded Items) and Measurement Invariance as Threats to Its Construct Validity Are Remedied in a 5-Item Version With Improved Performance.
Amira Mohammed Ali, Saeed A Al-Dossary, Maryam Alharrasi and 9 others
PMID 41603608WHAT IT FOUND
In Arabic-speaking patients with heart failure, a 5-item control questionnaire gave a clearer picture of perceived control than the 8-item version.
Dropping two negatively worded items and removing another item made scores easier to compare across groups.
Key findings
01The original Arabic 8-item control scale did not measure a single ability dependably in this sample.
02A 5-item Arabic version that removed items 5, 6, and 8 fit well and behaved consistently across gender and marital groups.
03Patients who screened positive for depression had lower perceived control scores, but the design cannot show which way the association runs.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether low perceived control contributes to depression or depression contributes to low perceived control. The sample was only 180 patients from one Arab country, and the authors say the results may not generalize to other Arabic contexts. The participants were mostly older adults, and many had low education, which may have affected how they answered the questions. The reliability of both the control scale and the depression measure was suboptimal, so the validity findings need caution. Data collection used both phone and face-to-face interviews, and the authors say it is not guaranteed that the two methods worked identically. The authors say some item wording may still be irrelevant to perceived control and needs further revision.
Declared interests
The authors reported no funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the original 8-item Arabic control scale as a dependable measure of perceived control. In this sample its scores were not consistent enough, and the better 5-item version still needs wording checks and testing in more Arab populations.