Background: Food insecurity is a public health issue affecting at least 1 billion people worldwide (1). Many of the food insecurity measures used worldwide with various target populations have been translated adaptations of food insecurity models developed in the United States. Research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continues to lag behind research in other regions due to limited availability and insufficient quality of data collected (2). Currently, there is a gap in validated tools available to assess food insecurity in the Arabic language.
Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the face validity of an Arabic-language translation of the Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad Alimentaria (ELCSA), an established food security questionnaire. The specific aims are (1) to successfully translate the ELCSA into the Arabic language and (2) to examine the face validity of the translated instrument.
Design, Setting and Participants: The tool was translated by native Arabic speakers and crosschecked via back translation into English. Face validity was assessed via a convenience sample of 27 native Arabic-speaking women divided into 4 groups following Kruger’s focus group protocol (3). The focus group method was selected to observe and gather participants’ perceptions of food insecurity, language interpretations pertaining to ease of language and word choice used in the translation.
Outcome Measures and Analysis: Focus group interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using textual analysis (3) and coded into major and minor themes to allow for identification of key concepts.
Results: Data indicated the following major themes: (1) question structure must be shifted allowing the subject of the question to precede the time period asked about; (2) question terminology must be simplified in most questions; and (3) all questions were considered relevant as they range in degree of food insecurity severity.
Conclusions and Implications: The knowledge gained from this study exemplifies the importance of an in-depth adaptation of a translated tool in order to guarantee its suitability its target population. The language and cultural appropriate measure validated allows for an adequate food security scale to be utilized in the MENA region and supports the further development of a global household food security scale.