Translation and Validation of American Diabetes Association Diabetes Risk Test: The Malay Version

BACKGROUND: Early detection of high-risk people for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using a simple, non-invasive and cost-effective assessment tool helps to identify and prevent members of the community from developing this disease. Therefore, this study aims to translate the American Diabetes Association (ADA) diabetes risk test for Malaysians and then evaluate its validity. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2019 and April 2019. The instrument underwent forward and backward translation according to Behling and Law’s technique. Content validity was performed by two experts and face validity was conducted among 35 convenience samples from Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Both were analysed using content validity index and face validity index, respectively. RESULTS: All respondents were Malay, and had attained tertiary education with a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 20.63 (2.80) years old and BMI of 30.45 (5.99). Among the respondents, 57.1%, 94.3% and 80% were female, single and having a household income below RM1,500, respectively. The Malay translated instrument achieved high I-content validity index (CVI) [0.5–1.0] and S-CVI/Ave [0.93] as well as high I-face validity index (FVI) [0.86–0.97] and S-FVI/Ave [0.91] for understandability, and high I-FVI [0.77–0.91] and S-FVI/Ave [0.85] for clarity. CONCLUSION: The Malay version of the ADA diabetes risk test was found to be a valid survey instrument to be used for the Malaysian adult population.