A simplified Chinese version of the Significant Others Scale as a measure of social support for people with mental illness
Author: Tsang, H., Lam, P., & Yee-chiu, I.
Journal: Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills
Abstract:
The Significant Others Scale (SOS) was simplified and then translated into Chinese. The equivalence between the original and simplified Chinese versions was then verified with participants recruited from a Chinese community. Thirty-one participants with mental disabilities were randomly selected from a mental hospital. The participants were assisted by a qualified occupational therapist to complete the original and simplified Chinese versions within a week period. The exceptionally high intraclass coefficients between the original and simplified Chinese versions (.81 to .99) suggested redundancy of items in the original version and thus provided statistical evidence for the simplification process. It is suggested that the simplified version can be used to replace the original one if time and manpower are limited for clinical and research purposes.