Validation of the modeling of a social support questionnaire in Moroccan dialect among Moroccan patients

Abstract

This study aimed to validate the Moroccan dialectal version of the Short Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ-6) among patients with chronic illnesses.A total of 205 patients, including 51.6% women, participated. These patients presented complications in the endocrine, respiratory, and cardiological domains. Utilizing a psychometric approach, the study employed confirmatory factor analysis to reveal a two-dimensional structure of the SSQ-6, capturing satisfaction and availability dimensions. The reliability was strong (Cronbach's alpha = 0.72), and inter-item correlations were satisfactory (0.711 to 0.893).The results indicated an average total score of 37.3, suggesting moderate perceived social support. The median, also 37, confirmed this, reflecting the presence of variability. For social support availability, participants averaged a score of 11.0, indicating moderate perception, with a median of 11.0. Notably, variations in responses were highlighted by a standard deviation of 4.80.The study recommends the use of the Moroccan dialectal SSQ-6 for evaluating social support among patients with chronic illnesses.