Psychometric Validation of the Malay Version of the Emotional Abuse Questionnaire (EAQ-M).

BACKGROUND

Emotional abuse is a pervasive form of maltreatment with severe mental health consequences, particularly in children. Despite its impact, emotional abuse often goes unnoticed, complicating its detection. In Malaysia, increasing awareness underscores the need for reliable and culturally adapted tools such as the Emotional Abuse Questionnaire-Malay Version (EAQ-M).

METHODS

This cross-sectional validation study aimed to translate and validate the EAQ into Malay. The process involved forward and backward translation, finalised by six bilingual experts, including paediatricians, certified language lecturers, and medical officers. Face validity was assessed by 10 children aged 13 to 17 years, and content validity by six experts. A total of 165 secondary school students from Kota Bharu, Kelantan, participated. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) assessed construct validity, and Cronbach's alpha evaluated internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was determined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC).

RESULTS

The EAQ-M demonstrated high content validity (S-CVI/UA = 0.96) and face validity (S-FVI/UA and S-FVI/Ave = 1). CFA confirmed the retention of 29 out of 30 items, maintaining the original six-factor structure. Fit indices indicated acceptable model fit (NC = 1.555, RMSEA = 0.058, GFI = 0.819, AGFI = 0.782, CFI = 0.873, TLI = 0.857, NFI = 0.717, and SRMR = 0.081). Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.902), and test-retest reliability was strong (ICC = 0.917, 95% CI = 0.869-0.955).

CONCLUSION

The EAQ-M, with 29 of the 30 original items retained, is a reliable and valid six-factor tool for assessing emotional abuse among Malaysian children.