Validation and Psychometric Assessment of the Persian Version of the Adult Responses to Children’s Symptoms Questionnaire in Children With Chronic Diseases

Background Measuring the way adults respond to the needs of children with chronic diseases is of therapeutic and research importance due to its effect on the course of the disease and children’s symptoms. Objective This study aims to validate and assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the adult responses to children’s symptoms (ARCS) questionnaire in children with chronic diseases. Methods This is a descriptive and psychometrics study. Participants were 290 parents of children aged 4-16 years with chronic diseases who visited 17 Shahrivar Hospital in Rasht, Iran from winter 2021 to spring 2022. They were selected using a consecutive sampling method and answered the Persian versions of ARCS and the child-parent relationship scale (CPRS). Results The correlation coefficients between the total score and the items for the dimension of encouraging/monitoring were in the range of 0.35-0.72, for the protective dimension in the range of 0.44-0.73, and for the minimizing dimension in the range of 0.53-0.66. In addition, the results of regression analysis showed that the scores of ARCS dimensions were able to significantly explain the variance in scores of the CPRS dimensions of conflict (20%), closeness (34%), and dependency (36%) and overall CPRS score Conclusion The Persian ARCS questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for use in the Iranian samples.