Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the isiZulu 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale : preliminary findings.
Bibliographic record
Abstract
According to prevalence studies, 1 in 3 South Africans will present with a diagnosable mental disorder throughout the course of their lifetime, whilst over a given period of 12 months, 1 in 6 South Africans will likely present with a mental disorder that is clinically diagnosable. Given the alarming rates of mental illness in South Africa much attention within the literature has focussed on further understanding both its determinants and associated risk factors. Due to its significant associations with several psychiatric and medical conditions, the subject of alexithymia has advanced these aims in the global literature. However, little research on the subject has been undertaken in South Africa, most likely due to the lack of a validated psychometric assessment for detecting and further investigating the issue of alexithymia among patients. Additionally, research also indicates that the measurement of alexithymia is impacted by sociocultural factors that shape it in part. Consequently, this research aimed to address these issues by undertaking a cross-cultural adaptation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) for an isiZulu-speaking sample of university students and evaluating its psychometric properties. This was achieved through three objectives: (1) cultural adaptation and translation of the TAS-20 into isiZulu; (2) evaluating the psychometric properties of the isiZulu translation of the TAS-20; and (3) exploring variation in scores on the isiZulu TAS-20 by gender. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses suggested best global fit for the standard oblique three-factor model with an additional specified covariance between two indicators. Evaluation of local fit supported meaningful parameter estimates, as well as the convergent and discriminant validity for the DIF and DDF latent factors of the model, but failed to support the validity of the EOT latent factor. Reliability analyses similarly demonstrated acceptable reliability for the total isiZulu TAS-20 scale and the DIF and DDF subscales, but failed to do so for the EOT subscale. Lastly, there was tentative indication of significantly elevated levels of alexithymia among female Zulu participants as compared to male Zulu participants. In conclusion, the psychometric evaluation confirmed the factor structure, but failed to fully support the underlying theoretical relationships in the Zulu culture. In convergence with other studies, these findings suggest that sociocultural factors significantly impact upon the construct and assessment of alexithymia. The study suggests the need for a theoretical reconceptualization of alexithymia, factoring in the role of sociocultural factors.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.003 | 0.010 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".