Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Arabic version of the "Perceived Access to Health Questionnaire" among university students in Morocco.

BACKGROUND

The use of primary healthcare services is dependent on students' perceptions of these services. This study aimed to cross-culturally adapt and validate a classical Arabic version of the "Perceived Access to Health Questionnaire" instrument among Moroccan university students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in May 2023 among students enrolled during the 2022-2023 academic year at public universities in the Marrakech-Safi region, Morocco. The adapted methodology was based on the International Test Commission's recommendations and the American Psychological Association's testing practice standards. The psychometric evaluation included assessing the instrument's acceptability, internal consistency, and convergent and divergent validity. Exploratory factor analysis was used to verify the scale's components. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 26.

RESULTS

The overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.94. Specific Cronbach's alphas for the dimensions of the "Perceived Access to Health Questionnaire" were also satisfactory, except for the "affordability" dimension. All items of the instrument showed a significant positive correlation with their corresponding dimension ( < 0.001). Factor analysis was unable to confirm the composition into six dimensions of the scale.