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Psychometric Properties of Brief Symptom Inventory Malay (BSI-18-M) among Homosexual Males in Malaysia

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Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) is commonly used to measure psychological distress among numerous population in which the psychometric properties are unique depending on the characteristics of the population. The English original version of the BSI-18 questionnaire was translated into Malay by a forward–backward translation before a cross-sectional study was conducted among 87 homosexual males in Malaysia through purposive sampling. Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to determine the construct validity and Cronbach alpha was obtained to determine reliability. The loading of the items are similar to previous component rotation with minor differences while the Cronbach alpha of each domain ranges from .839 (somatic domain), .845 (depression domain), and .862 (anxiety domain) which suggests good reliability. These findings indicate that the Malay version of BSI-18 is appropriate to measure the psychological distress experienced by sexual minority groups in Malaysia.
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