Background: Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) is a brief and easy to use instrument for measurement of religious commitment. Objective: The aim of this study was to validate the Malay version of DUREL (DUREL-M) among a group of nursing students. Methods: This is a cross-sectional validation study conducted in a nursing school involved a group of year 1 nursing students. The students were given the Malay version of DUREL, Malay version of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Malay version of Brief COPE, Malay version of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21), English version of DUREL. A week later, they were again given the Malay version of DUREL. Results: The instrument displayed good parallel reliability (0.70), test-retest reliability (0.68) (Spearman’s rho, p.
Introduction: There is increasing awareness of the contribution of perceived social support (PSS) to emotional and physical well-being. Numerous scales measuring PSS have been developed, including the widely used Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The psychometric properties of the MSPSS have been demonstrated in diverse samples, however mostly are conducted in English. Malay is the official languange in Malaysia, and this study was conducted to provide evidence of the validity and reliability of a Malay version MSPSS (MSPSS-M) suited for our population.
Methods: This is a cross sectional study. The socio-demographic and clinical information of the selected patients from psychiatric outpatient clinic over a 3-month period, were obtained via pre-designed questionnaire, interviews and medical records. Assessment of psychiatric symptoms and social support were measured by various instruments including the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E), Depressive, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and MSPSS-M.
Results: Data were reported for 228 psychiatric outpatients with the mean age of 40.3 years old. The 3-factor structure of the MSPSS-M (significant others, family, and friends) fitted the data well. The MSPSS-M showed good internal consistency (Cronbach α of 0.89) and validity. The scores of the total subscales for MSPSS-M were negatively correlated with the depression subscale in DASS (P < 0.05). BPRS was negatively correlated with significant others (P < 0.01) compared to the other two subscales in MSPSS-M.
Conclusions: The Malay version MSPSS (MSPSS-M) is a psychometrically valid instrument with high internal consistency, which is useful in assessing perceived social support in Malaysian population.
Study site: psychiatric clinic, University Malaya
Medical Center (UMMC)