Content Validity and Reliability of the 13-Item Sense of Coherence Scale among 13-15 Year Old School Children in Chennai City

Objective: To assess the content validity and reliability of the 13-item Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale among 13-15 year old school children in Chennai city. Participants: A total of 258, 13 – 15 year old ethnic Dravidian students from two randomly selected schools within Chennai city, present on both days of the study were included. Study design: A cross sectional study. Method: The 13-item Sense of Coherence questionnaire was translated to the vernacular, back translated and subjected to expert opinion to check its validity. The 13-item SOC questionnaire was used to assess the Sense of Coherence of the selected school students. The questionnaire was re-administered after one week to measure to measure Internal consistency reliability and Infraclass correlation co-efficient. Results: The Internal consistency reliability checked using Cronbach α was found to be 0.784. The intra class correlation co-efficient was 0.7 and remained the same with an item deleted. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the 13 item SOC questionnaire is a valid and reliable epidemiological tool among an adolescent Dravidian population in Chennai city. Further studies are recommended to assess the stability of SOC concept over a period of time.