Translation and initial validation of the occupational balance questionnaire to Arabic—Occupational Balance Questionnaire-A

Introduction: Occupational balance (OB) is related to many health indicators, including quality of life. The Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ11) was developed to measure OB, and to date, no Arabic translations of the questionnaire exist. The aim of the study was to describe the translation process of OBQ11 to Arabic and to evaluate its content validity, internal consistency, construct validity, and convergent validity. Methods: OBQ11 was translated to Arabic (OBQ11-A) following standard guidelines. Content validity feedback was obtained from ten Arabic-speaking occupational therapists and in a cognitive debriefing with seven volunteers. In addition, OBQ11-A and the Family Quality of Life Survey-2006 were administered to 67 Arabic-speaking participants from a larger study about OB among parents. Results: High level of agreement was found on the content of OBQ11-A from the occupational therapists. Cognitive debriefing interviews indicated that OBQ11-A was easy to understand. Cronbach’s alpha for the total OBQ11-A score was 0.864 indicating good internal consistency. Exploratory factor analysis showed acceptable factor loadings for all items. The total scores showed positive statistically significant associations with Family Quality of Life Scores (r = 0.561, p < 0.001). Conclusions: OBQ11-A may prove useful for assessing OB in Arabic-speaking populations. Further research is needed to establish its reliability.