Reliability and Validity Measurment of the Persian Version of Social Phobia Scale Assessing the Reliability and Validity of Social Phobia Scale

This study was designed in order to evaluate the reliability and validity of Persian version of Social Phobia Scale (SPS).

The study sample consisted of 276 subjects (141 males & 135 females) who were selected via available sampling method. In order to collecting the data, after forward and backward translations of the Social Phobia Scale (SPS), this scale was used with the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSSI) to examine the convergent and divergent validity. The data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation method. Also, in order to evaluate the differential validity, we used independent t-test, That it was calculated through the mean difference between two groups of clinical and non-clinical.

The findings of factor analysis indicated that this scale is unifactorial in the Iranian sample. Test-retest reliability was 0.88 and internal consistency of the scale was 0.91 using Cronbach's alpha, Correlation between the two half-tests was 0.80. Also, the correlation with Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSSI) were 0.68 and 0.22, respectively. Also, in comparison with clinical and non-clinical group, independent t-test was shown two groups are significantly different in social phobia scales.

The Persian version of Social Phobia Scale (SPS) is a reliable and valid scale which can be used in Iranian society as a useful and valid tool for research in the clinical field.