Culturally sensitive translation of the Perceived Stress Scale and the Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support into Marathi language

Purpose: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) are widely used globally (and in India) to assess the perceived stress and perceived social support respectively. Local language versions of these tools have been validated in different parts of the world and some Indian languages, but these studies have been carried out in populations outside India. Translation and validation of these tools in Marathi language is not yet undertaken. Methods: : We used the following steps to translate and adapt the PSS and the MSPSS into Marathi: forward translation, feedback from the bilingual committee, cognitive interviewing and pre-testing, backward translation, comparison of the original English versions with the back-translated English versions, and the assessment of conceptual and operational equivalence which was done using the Pearson’s correlation coefficients and the Bland-Altman approach. Results: : There was a very high correlation between the English and the Marathi version of the PSS (0.97) and the MSPSS (0.98). For the self and interviewer administered versions, Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient was slightly lower for the PSS (0.76, p=0.01), but for MSPSS it was 0.97 (p<0.001). The agreement between the two language versions of both the scales and the self and interviewer-administered versions was also established using the Bland-Altman plots. Conclusion: The outputs of this study, i.e., the self and interviewer-administered Marathi language versions of the PSS and the MSPSS are based on a systematic approach of culturally sensitive translation, and these can now be further used for assessment of their psychometric validity.