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Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to translate the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) into Arabic (Fusha dialect), and obtain preliminary reliability and validity estimates for the translated version.
Background: Arabic populations experience sleep problems that interfere with their vitality and quality of life. The ISI was established to screen for insomnia in both clinical and research situations.
Design: This study used a descriptive correlational design. The ISI was translated into Arabic using the back-translation method and compared with three other sleep measures: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the Vitality Subscale from the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36. These measures were administered to 35 healthy Arabic bilingual participants from three community locations.
Findings: The mean ISI score was 9.2 (SD = 5.8; range 0-20). Internal consistency reliability was 0.84. The correlations between the total ISI score and the single items ranged from 0.49 to 0.92 (p < .01). In terms of convergent validity, the total ISI score showed a strong positive correlation with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index global score (r = 0.76, p < .001) and a moderate, negative correlation with vitality (r = -0.38, p=.026).
Conclusions: The translated ISI demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. The translated ISI needs further testing in a larger sample of both clinical and healthy Arabic populations in their own countries.
Clinical Relevance: Preliminary psychometric estimates show that the translated ISI is reliable and valid in this community-dwelling Arabic sample. The translated ISI allows for Arabic researchers to screen for insomnia and plan for future intervention studies.
Key words
Insomnia, ISI, Arabic, back-translation, reliability, validity
Arabic populations experience sleep problems that interfere with their vitality and quality of life (Suleiman, Yates, Berger, Pozehl, & Meza, 2010; Voss & Tuin, 2008) with 39% (WaIi et al., 1999) to 44% (El-Kharoubi, 2004) of Arabs experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness. Further, 39% of Arabic women living in Germany (Voss & Tuin) to 60% of Arabs living in the United States (Suleiman et al., 2010) were found to be poor sleepers. Currently, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS; Johns, 1991) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman, & Kupfer, 1989) have been translated into Arabic (Saleh, 2008; Suleiman et al.). However, the ESS only...