[French translation, cultural adaptation and assessment of preliminary psychometric properties of the Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana Scale]

OBJECTIVE

Young adults (18- to 24-year-olds) constitute the age group with the highest proportion of cannabis users. In the context of legalization, it is important to promote lower-risk cannabis use. The Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana Scale (PBSM-17) identifies strategies used by consumers. However, this scale is not available in French and is not adapted to the Canadian context. This article presents the process that led to the translation, cultural adaptation and evaluation of the preliminary psychometric properties of PBSM-17.

METHOD

The methodological study was carried out in six steps. The first four steps led to the translation towards French and adaptation of the scale. A validation among 12 young people contributed to establish the criterion equivalency (step 5). The evaluation of psychometric properties (step 6) was carried out among 211 bilingual university students (61 % women; mean age 22 years old).

RESULTS

The French version presents satisfactory preliminary psychometric properties: internal consistency is acceptable (α = 0.88); criterion equivalency was established between the French and the original English version (t (210) = 1.04, p = 0.30; 95% CI [-0.20, 0.63]). The scores obtained on both versions by the same participant were found to be strongly correlated (r = 0.95, p <0.001).

CONCLUSION

The results support the use of the French version of PBSM-17. The proposed protective strategies can be used as a measurement tool and represent behaviors that can be targeted in a lower-risk cannabis use context.

Content validation of the Patient-Reported Hamilton Inventory for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Validité de contenu du Hamilton Inventory for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, une mesure des résultats déclarés par le patient

BACKGROUND

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a perplexing neurological condition, and persons with CRPS experience substantial loss of daily roles and activities. A condition-specific measure is being developed to evaluate CRPS.

PURPOSE

We describe the use of cognitive interviews to examine content validity of this patient-reported outcome measure for CRPS.

METHOD

Interviews with 44 persons with CRPS were analyzed to identify problems with wording and support content validation. Item-total correlations were calculated for proposed subscales, and scores were plotted to consider floor/ceiling effects.

FINDINGS

Interviews identified questions where respondents considered factors unrelated to the construct of interest or were underaddressed by the questionnaire, including depression and skin temperature. The symptoms, daily function, and coping/social impact scales demonstrated satisfactory correlations (Cronbach's alpha 0.76-0.86). Despite a sampling bias of severity, no frank floor/ceiling effects were noted.

IMPLICATIONS

This study builds a foundation for continuing development and evaluation of the measurement properties of the Patient-Reported Hamilton Inventory for CRPS. It makes explicit the iterative decisions involved in rigorous instrument development.