Translation and validation of the Vietnamese version of the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation scale (BFNE) in adults who stutter

The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) has been translated into many languages and used to screen anxiety in people who stutter. However, the Vietnamese version is not available and thus screening and interventions for this population in Vietnam are lacking. This study translated the BFNE into Vietnamese and evaluated the psychometric properties of Vietnamese people living with stuttering. Forward-backward translation was used, based on international standard guidelines. Adults who stutter were invited and asked to complete an online survey that contained the final Vietnamese version of the BFNE. Reliability was evaluated through internal consistency and three-week test-retest reliability. Validity was evaluated through content validity index, and construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis. From expert panel evaluation, the Vietnamese BFNE scale had semantic and conceptual similarities to the original English version. Content validity indexes were high (S-CVI = 1). From 34 people living with stuttering, alpha coefficient was 0.80 and ICC was 0.83. The model fit indexes from confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the data fitted the two-factor model well and thus high level of construct validity. In conclusion, the Vietnamese version of the BFNE scale had good internal consistency reliability, good test-retest reliability, appropriate content validity, and acceptable construct validity. Whilst results are positive overall, they are preliminary and based on small numbers. Further studies are needed.