Translation into Arabic and validation of the Patient Assessment of Care for Chronic Conditions questionnaire for diabetes

Background: The Patient Assessment of Care for Chronic Conditions (PACIC-5As) is a questionnaire developed in English and designed to evaluate the health care experiences of people living with chronic conditions such as diabetes. Aims: This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt and validate the PACIC-5As instrument for the Arab context in a sample of Saudi Arabian people with diabetes. Methods: The PACIC-5As was translated into Arabic using a forward and backward translation process. The Arabic version was then validated with a sample of 557 Saudi Arabians with diabetes who were recruited from tertiary level diabetes centres in Riyadh between January and March 2018. In order to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version, Cronbach alphas and item correlations were determined and exploratory factor analysis was performed. Results: The translated PACIC-5As had good psychometric quality. Cronbach alpha was > 0.9 and the inter-item correlation ranged between 0.36 and 0.56. Exploratory factor analysis showed a single-factor structure. Conclusion: An Arabic version of the PACIC-5As questionnaire is now available to assess the experience of patients with diabetes. The results of this study can be used to improve the quality of the delivery of health care in Arabic-speaking countries.