Persian Translation of Perception of Psychiatry Survey Questionnaire and Evaluation of its Psychometric Properties

OBJECTIVE Test the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Perception of Psychiatry Survey questionnaire, which is being used in a large multi-site international study, of which we were part. This instrument was designed to measure the attitudes of medical educators to psychiatry. METHOD We used World Health Organization guideline as the methodological model for Persian translation. The Persian version of Perception of Psychiatry Survey questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 100 medical teachers at Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Azad University. The content validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability of the instrument were assessed. RESULTS No item changed completely during the process of translation and cultural adaptation. The content validity of translation and back translation was 0.74 and 0.86 according to Feliss Kappa Statistic. The Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.76 for the Persian version and for its subdivisions ranged from 0.59 to 0.81. The inter class correlation (ICC) coefficient for test-retest reliability of the whole instrument was 0.89. CONCLUSION The Persian version of Perception of Psychiatry Survey questionnaire could be considered as a good cross-cultural equivalent for original English version. The instrument is a reliable instrument in terms of internal consistency and test-retest reliability.