Validation and cultural adaptation of the arabic version of the food disgust scale

Abstract

Disgust is a culturally dependent phenomenon, and its linguistic expressions vary among communities. The Food Disgust Scale (FDS), in both long and short versions, was developed and validated by Hartmann and Siegrist (2018) in German and later adapted to other languages to measure food-related disgust. This study aimed to validate the FDS for the first time in Arabic. The FDS was translated into Arabic using forward and backward translation standards. Three studies were conducted via online surveys among adult Egyptians. The Arabic version of the FDS demonstrated excellent content validity (S-CVI = 0.91). In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis identified a seven-factor structure for the FDS long, consistent with the original scale, covering dimensions such as animal flesh, poor hygiene, human contamination, mold, decaying fruits and vegetables, fish, and living contaminants. These factors demonstrated high internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha values ranging from 0.79 to 0.92. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the seven-factor model, showing a good fit to the data. The FDS short version had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.79, and three additional short version were developed by selecting items with the highest item-total correlations. In Study 2, convergent and discriminant validity were confirmed through significant correlations with the food neophobia scale. Study 3 demonstrated the scale's stability over time, with test-retest correlations for the subscales ranging from 0.61 to 0.81 and 0.62 for the short version, indicating high reliability. The validated Arabic long and short versions of FDS are reliable tools for assessing food disgust sensitivity among Arabic-speaking populations.