Validation of a translated Chinese perceived personal control (PPC) questionnaire in prenatal team-based genetic counselling

Abstract

Genetic counselling is an important component in a clinical genetic service, providing information to patients and assisting them in making decisions on reproduction and genetic testing. However, patients and their partners sometimes rely on counsellors for decision making or they simply have lost control in making decisions when under great stress. Berkenstadt et al. (1999) developed a popular self-administered Perceived personal control (PPC) questionnaire to evaluate genetic counselling. Previously, the PPC scale was available in several languages, namely Hebrew (Berkenstadt et al., 1999), English (McAllister et al., 2011) and Dutch (Smets el al., 2006), on the grounds that the sense of mastery and the confidence about the decisions made by the counselees would be enhanced after a counselling session. However, there is not a validated Chinese version of PPC available in Hong Kong. The PPC scale, as a quantitative indicator, readable and valid in the Chinese population, would be useful to Hong Kong’s genetic services. In this study, psychometric properties of the translated Chinese version were analyzed. The translated version, being a two-factor model, was reliable (α=0.83), despite its weak and non-significant correlation with other valid scales. It is hoped that the Chinese version of PPC questionnaire would be used in the local clinical setting to enable us to quickly review patients’ perception of personal control over their interaction with medical professionals.