Cross-cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Malay Version of the Early Childhood Educators Child Abuse Questionnaire in Malaysia.

Background: There is an increasing global trend of child abuse, and research into knowledge, attitudes, and intentions towards reporting child abuse among early childcare providers (ECPs) in Malaysia has been limited. There is no existing questionnaire in the Malay language that measures these aspects. Therefore, this study cross-culturally adapted and validated the Early Childhood Educators Child Abuse Questionnaire (ECECAQ) from English into Malay to assess knowledge and attitude towards child abuse and its reporting, as well as intentions to report child abuse among ECPs. Methods: This study comprises two phases. The first phase involved the cross-cultural adaptation of the original ECECAQ into Malay. The second phase, which involved 218 ECPs working in registered preschools in Kelantan, Malaysia, was conducted to validate the Malay version of ECECAQ. Five-point Likert-scaled attitude items were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), while dichotomous-scaled knowledge items were analysed using 2-parameter logistic item response theory analysis. Results: The four-factor model for the attitude had a good fit [χ2 = 58.7 (48), P = 0.138; standardised root mean square (SRMR) = 0.044; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.033; comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.986; Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.981], with factor loadings (FLs) ranging from 0.414 to 0.869 and good reliability (Raykov's rho = 0.672 to 0.878). The knowledge had a good range of difficulty and discrimination values, with acceptable reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.66). Conclusion: The Malay version of ECECAQ demonstrated good validity and reliability among ECPs in Malaysia.