Validation of the Arabic version of the Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale (PASS) among antenatal and postnatal women

BACKGROUND: Anxiety among women in the perinatal period is common. Assessing the severity of perinatal anxiety will help monitor the progress of the patient through the stages of anxiety and facilitated the treatment. This study assesses the validity and reliability of the “Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale” (PASS) in the Arabic language. METHODS: The PASS was translated into Arabic. Two hundred seventeen women in the antenatal and postnatal phase participated (92 antenatal and 125 postnatal) answered to PASS, GHQ12, EPDS-10, and DASS-21. Content validity, factor analysis, internal consistency, and test retest reliability were assessed. RESULTS: Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) were .88 and 0.79; respectively. The scale loaded on four components: acute anxiety, social anxiety, and dissociation; specific fears and trauma; general anxiety and adjustment; and perfectionism and control. Cronbach’s Alpha value for the scale was 0.78 and test retest correlation coefficient was 0.94. PASS significantly correlated with EPDS-10 (rho=0.46), GHQ-12(rho=0.58), the three components of DASS-21 (0.47, 0.50, and 0.43; respectively), and experiencing adverse life events. CONCLUSION: The Arabic translated version of the PASS showed reasonably adequate validity and reliability and can be used to screen for anxiety disorder among women in the perinatal phase.