A Psychometric Study of the Arabic Version of the “Searching for Hardships and Obstacles to Shots (SHOT)” Instrument for Use in Saudi Arabia

مقال فى مجلة

2024

Vaccines are considered one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century

and the most cost-effective public health intervention to overcome diseases and disease-associated

mortality. This study translated the “Searching for Hardships and Obstacles to Shots” (SHOT)

instrument from English to Arabic and conducted a psychometric evaluation of the Arabic version to

measure parental barriers to childhood immunization. The cross-sectional study utilized multistage

cluster random sampling to recruit parents visiting 70 primary health centers in Jizan. Scale translation

and cultural adaptation were used to translate the SHOT survey into Arabic. The survey revealed

that the best-factor model was a one-factor solution for “barriers to child immunization.” The first

principal component explained the highest variance (56.22%), and subsequent components explained

decreasing percentages of variance. The third principal component explained the decreased variance

(4.61%), and subsequent components explained the decreasing percentages of variance. The overall

reliability (determined by Cronbach’s alpha) was 0.96. The strong internal consistency of the Arabic

version of the SHOT instrument (as indicated by the high Cronbach’s alpha coefficients) indicates that

researchers and practitioners can confidently use this scale to measure parents’ attitudes toward and

perceptions of vaccinations. Furthermore, the study results will help policymakers develop programs

or interventional initiatives to overcome these barriers.