Translation, adaptation, and validation of the Malay Version of the Sensory Processing Measure-Home Form

Introduction: The unusual responses towards sensory input received from the environment may cause problems in managing daily activities among children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To a serious extent, these responses can injure themselves. Given most of the established assessment measures were developed in Western countries and may be suitable for Western culture only, this study aimed to develop a culturally-suitable sensory processing assessment measure by translating, adapting and validating the Sensory Processing Measure-Home Form (SPM-Home Form) into the Malay language. Methods : The development of the Malay version of the SPM-Home Form (SPM-MV Home Form) was conducted in three steps: 1) Items evaluation, 2) Forward and backward translation, and 3) Expert review and Content Validity Index (CVI) that contains Item-CVI (I-CVI) and scale-CVI (S-CVI). The process of translation and adaptation of the form was performed according to standard guidelines. Results : In the item evaluation process, no item was being excluded from the original SPM-Home Form as all the items were considered by experts as appropriate to the activities of children in Malaysia. The content validity process was performed by ten experts in occupational therapy. The total S-CVI of the form was 0.95. The mean of sub-scales I-CVI and sub-scales S-CVI are ranged between 0.86-1.00 and 0.82-1.00 respectively. Conclusion: The SPM-MV Home Form is suitable to be used for screening sensory processing difficulty in children ages between 5 and 12 years in Malaysian population.