Reliability and validity of the Persian (Farsi) version of the Risk Perception Survey–Diabetes Mellitus

Knowledge of patients’ risk perceptions is essential for the management of chronic diseases. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of a Persian (Farsi) language translation of the Risk Perception Survey–Diabetes Mellitus. After forward–backward translation the RPS-DM was randomly administered to 106 adult patients with diabetes who were enrolled in a teaching referral clinic in the north of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Rasht). Internal consistency and exploratory factor analysis were applied. The minimum value for internal consistency was 0.50 for risk knowledge and the highest value was 0.88 on the optimistic bias subscale. Principal component analysis showed that the items of the composite risk score matched with the same items in the English language version, except for question numbers 16, 24 and 25. The Persian version of RPS-DM is the first standardized tool for measuring risk perception and knowledge about diabetes complications in the Islamic Republic of Iran.