Reliability and Validity of the Kannada Version of the Parental Stress Scale

Background: Parental Stress Scale (PSS) is a self report scale of 18 items which represents positive and negative components of parenthood. Administration of scale doesn’t require any specific training but as it is self report scale it is important that parents should be able to read it by themselves for better understanding of questions. Therefore it is necessary to translate and validate the tool in local language. Objective : Objective of this study was to translate the Parental Stress Scale in Kannada language and check its reliability in comparison with original English tool. Methods: Translation procedure was followed according to WHO guidelines for translation and adaptation of instruments. The original English version of PSS was translated by two translators into Kannada. It was further subjected to expert panel opinion. Amendments were done in the Kannada version as per the panel’s opinion. A reverse translation of the amended tool was then done by a translator back to English from Kannada. The translated scale was later tested for reliability and validity. Results : The Cronbach’s alpha value of translated version of PSS was found to be 0.915 with an ICC value of 0.82. The translated version of tool was found to be reliable and culturally acceptable in North-Karnataka region. Conclusion: The translated version of PSS has an excellent internal consistency and good reliability. It can be used to measure parental stress scores among the population from North-Karnataka region.