Psychometric properties of the Arabic version of Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)

Abstract

Originally thought to be a relatively rare condition, social phobia is now believed to strike at least one in every ten persons at some time in their lives, and has been found in almost every culture studied. No previous study has addressed the epidemiology of social phobia in an Egyptian population sample, and only two published studies reported social phobia prevalence in an Arab country. There are no available tools for screening or diagnosis of social phobia in Arabic. The aim of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) to determine if it could an appropriate tool for screening and/or diagnosis of social phobia. The SPIN was translated using a standard translation procedure, and the social phobia module of the Arabic Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used to validate SPIN results. Participants included 37 subjects with social phobia, defined by CIDI, and 63 controls. The Arabic SPIN was found to have excellent internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. A cut-off score of 23 distinguished well between those with social phobia and controls. The Arabic SPIN was both reliable and valid for the screening and case identification of social phobia in the study population.