Cross-Cultural Validation and Reliability Testing of the Malaysian Version of Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS-My) Among the General Public in Malaysia

Abstract

Dementia is a major public health concern, and accurate dementia knowledge assessment using locally appropriate tools is very important. This study aimed to cross-culturally adapt and test the psychometric properties of the 27-item Malay-Singapore version of Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS) among the general public in Malaysia. A total of 491 Malaysian adults attending the MOH primary care health services in Selangor, Malaysia, were included in this study. Some phrases were revised after face validation to ensure items’ readability. Items 7 and 8 (I-CVI<0.78) were dropped following content validation. Pilot and test-retest revealed a good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.89) and reproducibility (ICC 0.66-0.94). The data collected was then randomly split for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In EFA, five items were removed due to low factor loadings (<0.4). The 20 items from EFA accounted for 51.0% of total variance. Following CFA, the original structures of DKAS were reduced to 16 items in a 4-factor model with strong model fit (χ²/df = 1.99, RMSEA = 0.05, GFI = 0.93, AGFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.93, and CFI = 0.94) and reliability indices. In summary, the Malaysian version of DKAS (DKAS-My) is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to assess dementia knowledge among the general public in Malaysia.