Assessing Reliability and Validity of Farsi Version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 in a Sample of Opioid Substance Use Disordered Patients

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validityof the Farsi version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 in a sample of opioidsubstance use disordered patients.
Methods: 321 substance dependent patients (287 male, 34 female)participated in this study. All of the participants were asked to complete theFarsi version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (FTAS-20), the EmotionalIntelligence Scale (EIS-41), and The Mental Health Inventory (MHI). In orderto examine the internal consistency of the FTAS-20, Cronbachʹs alphacoefficients were calculated for the entire sample. Pearsonʹs correlationcoefficient was used to estimate the test-retest reliability of the alexithymiadimensions. To examine the concurrent validity of the FTAS-20, a series ofzero-order correlations were conducted between the FTAS-20 subscales,emotional intelligence and mental health variables. Confirmatory FactorAnalysis (CFA) was utilized to test the three-factor structure of the FTAS-20.
Results: The internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity,and the three-factor structure of the Farsi version of the TAS-20 forsubstance users were supported by findings.
Conclusions: The factors found in the Farsi version of the TAS-20, aresimilar to the three factors found in a study conducted by Bagby, Parker andTaylor; the factors were accordingly labeled as Difficulty Identifying Feelings(DIF), Difficulty Describing Feelings (DDF) and Externally-Oriented Thinking(EOT). The results provide evidence for applicability of the TAS-20 and itscross-cultural validity.