The arabic version of the fat phobia scale—short form: reliability and structural validity
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Weight bias, often known as fat phobia or weight stigma, refers to unfavorable attitudes and stereotypes that are associated with, and applied to, larger bodies. Fat phobia can include an unreasonable and abnormal dread of being overweight or being associated with obese people. Currently, there is no validated tool available to measure fat phobia in Arabic. Measuring fat phobia in Arabic-speaking populations is crucial, because cultural attitudes toward body weight can be quite negative and discriminatory; these negative attitudes can negatively impact mental health. The current study aimed to adapt, translate, and assess the structural validity of the Fat Phobia Scale-Short Form (F-Scale 14) in Arabic. METHODS: The gold standard approach to translation was used. Forward translation involved translation from the English language to the Arabic language by independent translators. Subsequently, a back-translation review was performed on the translated Arabic version for comparison with the original language. A cross-sectional study was conducted online that included 1246 participants from 22 Arabic countries, of whom 74% were female, 66% single, 83% university graduates, with a mean age of 35 ± 6 years. RESULTS: The F-Scale 14 demonstrated good reliability in the Arabic language, with a Cronbach's α of 0.82 (95% CI 0.80-0.83), comparable to the original scale. The test-retest reliability of the scale was 0.92 (95% CI 0.90-0.94). According to the fit indices, the F-Scale 14 demonstrated a satisfactory level of structural validity in Arab cultures. Fit indices are statistical measures used in confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess how well a proposed model fits the observed data. The scale showed a small improvement in factorial structure after the removal of some items. The two items removed were self-indulgent versus self-sacrificing and disliking food versus likes food. The correlation between F-Scale 14 and the figure rating scale was r = 0.76 (p < 0.001), suggesting adequate convergent validity. CONCLUSIONS: The F-Scale 14 is a crucial indicator of attitudes and opinions concerning obese or overweight individuals. Based on increased internal consistency reliability and the problematic cultural relevance of two items, we recommend adopting a 12-item version of the scale for better cultural relevance in Arabic populations. It is anticipated that the Arabic F-Scale-12 will be highly useful for research and clinical purposes. Future research should test and adapt the Fat Phobia Scale for diverse Arabic populations to ensure its cultural relevance. Exploring its application in clinical settings will enhance our understanding of weight stigma and inform targeted interventions that promote body positivity. By addressing these areas, we can develop effective strategies to foster healthier attitudes toward body image in Arabic communities. LEVEL V: Evidence obtained from a cross-sectional descriptive study.
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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 | 0.007 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.007 | 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".