The translation and validation of the smartphone use questionnaire (SUQ) into the Malay language

• Main Authors: Amirul Danial A,, Suzaily Wahab,, Muhamad Afiq Z,, Rizal AM,, Mohammad Faidzul Nasrudin,, Mohd Juzaiddin Ab A,, Noor Alaudin Abdul Wahab,
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2021
• Online Access: http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18279/1/17_ms0528_pdf_48927.pdf; http://journalarticle.ukm.my/18279/; https://medicineandhealthukm.com/toc/16/2

Interruptions caused by frequent smartphone use steals attention away from daily activities, bringing serious implications onto an individual’s health, safety and education. Smartphone Use Questionnaire (SUQ) is a 20-item questionnaire developed to assess the pattern of smartphone use and its effect on attention. This study was done to translate and validate the Malay-language version of the SUQ and to measure the psychometric properties of the Malay-version SUQ to justify its use in Malaysia. A forward and back-translation was done by four individuals, who were three physicians and one linguist. Content and face validity was done involving three experts who were a linguist, psychiatrist and epidemiologist. Psychometric testing was conducted on a sample of 195 individuals proficient in the Malay language. A construct validity test was performed using factor analysis and the internal reliability was tested by calculating for the Cronbach’s Alpha. The age range of the sample was 13-59 years, most of which were female and of the Malay race. Using principal component analysis with direct oblimin rotation, the factor analysis extracted two components similar to the original study: General Use and Absent-Minded Use. However, question number 20 was grouped into General Use component, whereas in the original study it was under the Absent-Minded Use component. The Cronbach’s Alpha for the obtained components was 0.884 and 0.927, respectively. This study found that the Malay-version SUQ was a valid and reliable instrument for use in Malaysia in assessing inattention associated with smartphone use.