Investigating the Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire in a Sample of Patients With Multiple Sclerosis.

INTRODUCTION

Illness perception significantly influences treatment adherence and quality of life among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Despite the widespread use of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) in different languages, a validated Persian version tailored for MS patients was lacking.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 400 Persian-speaking MS patients recruited from the MS Society of Iran between December 2023 and April 2024. The IPQ-R was translated and culturally adapted through standard forward-backward translation procedures. Validity was assessed through face, content, and construct validity (using both confirmatory factor analysis [CFA] and exploratory factor analysis [EFA]). Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR).

RESULTS

The Persian IPQ-R showed strong face and content validity, with all items achieving acceptable content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) scores. CFA supported the original seven-factor model (χ/df = 1.048, CFI = 0.998, RMSEA = 0.011). EFA of the cause subscale revealed four interpretable dimensions explaining 75.6% of variance. Most subscales demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α = 0.839-0.962), whereas the identity subscale showed lower reliability (α = 0.590). Convergent and discriminant validity were confirmed through average variance extracted (AVE) and Heterotrait-Monotrait (HTMT) indices.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that the Persian version of the IPQ-R is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing illness perceptions in Iranian MS patients. It may serve as a valuable tool in clinical and research settings to evaluate patient beliefs and guide personalized care strategies.