Translation and psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the ageism scale for dental students (ASDS-Ar): A multi-institutional validation

Background and Objective: Ageism represents an important barrier to high-quality healthcare for older adults. The present study sought to translate and validate the Arabic version of the Ageism Scale for Dental Students (ASDS-Arabic). Materials and Methods: The 27-item ASDS tool was translated from English into Arabic following recommended cross-sectional forward and backward translation guidelines. The translated version was subjected to the content validity ratio (CVR) and sent to dental students in 21 institutes from 10 different Arab countries. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to assess the dimensionality of the scale, and Cronbach's alpha was used to determine internal consistency reliability. The discriminant validity of the scale was assessed using the independent t-test. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was also undertaken. Results: Based on CVR, three items were removed. The 24-item Arabic version was completed by 3284 dental students. PCA and CFA retained 17 items in six components, explaining 50.3% of the total variance, with acceptable reliability, validity and discrimination. The first component "Adherence of older patients with dental treatment and instructions," included four items with a Cronbach alpha of 0.64 and scored 4.3 +/- 0.8. The second component "Feasibility of the treatment plan," included three items with a Cronbach alpha of 0.66 and scored from 2.6 +/- 1.2 to 2.9 +/- 1.1. The third component "Cost of and responsibility for the dental treatment" included four items with a Cronbach alpha of 0.47 and scored 4.4 +/- 0.8 to 4.5 +/- 0.8. The fourth component "Medical history of older patients" included two items with a Cronbach alpha of 0.70 and scored 4.0 +/- 1.0 to 4.1 +/- 1.0. The fifth Component "Feeling towards older patients" included two items with a Cronbach alpha of 0.672 and scored 2.6 +/- 1.2 to 2.0 +/- 1.4. The sixth Component "Confidence and experience in treating older patients" included two items with a Cronbach alpha of 0.33 and scored 4.4 +/- 1 to 4.6 +/- 1. Conclusion: This preliminary validation of the ASDS-Ar resulted in a new 17-item scale with six components with acceptable validity, reliability and discrimination.