Validating an Arabic translation of the Sleep, Circadian Rhythms, and Mood (SCRAM) questionnaire.

Abstract

This study translated the Sleep, Circadian Rhythms, and Mood (SCRAM) questionnaire into Arabic and evaluated the psychometric properties and conceptual validity of the Arabic version. This process involved forward translation, back-translation, research team review, and pretesting of the Arabic SCRAM. A sample of 649 adults completed the Arabic SCRAM along with validation measures of sleep disturbances (Jenkins Sleep Scale: JSS) and depression severity (Patient Health Questionnaire: PHQ-9). Psychometric analyses included descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, test re-test, confirmatory factor analysis, and tests of convergent validity. The sample (77% female, mean age 26.31 years, range 18-47 years) demonstrated normal score distributions and adequate reliability on the Arabic SCRAM subscales. A three-factor structure was confirmed, aligning with the original English version. The Good Sleep and Depressed Mood subscales showed good convergence with the JSS and PHQ-9 scores, respectively. The Morningness subscale was not tested in the present research for convergent validity against other measures. The results provide preliminary support for a three-factor structure of the Arabic version of the SCRAM, with improved reliability indices (McDonald's ω ≈ 0.70) after removing three culturally non-optimal items; further validation is recommended before confirming these modifications.