Assessment of the Validity and Reliability of the Arabic Version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) Among Undergraduate Nursing Students and Interns in Saudi Arabia

Background The Ten-Item Personality Inventory is widely recognised for measuring Personality traits. It has neither been translated nor psychometrically tested in an Arabic context. Aim To assess the validity and reliability of the translated Arabic version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) among undergraduate nursing students and interns in Saudi Arabia. Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional survey with translation, back-translation and panel expert validation was used. A convenient sample of 283 undergraduate nursing students and interns was selected from three higher educational institutions in Saudi Arabia. The sample was randomly split, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were then conducted on each sample. Internal consistency was determined by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, item-total corrected correlation, and mean inter-item correlation. To assess the model fitness, the following indices thresholds were used: χ3/df ≤ 3, TLI >0.90, CFI >0.90, IFI > 0.90, NFI > 0.85, RMSEA < 0.08 and SRMR < 0.80. Composite reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity were assessed for the final model. Results The translated tool demonstrated excellent content validity. Exploratory factor analysis produced a seven-item, two-factor model accounting for 36% of the total variance. Both the McDonald’s Omega and Cronbach alpha coefficients for the overall scale were 0.71 and 0.64, respectively, and the mean inter-item correlation was 0.20, suggesting acceptable internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a Seven-item, Two-factor model with mixed goodness of fit: χ3/df: 2.6, TLI: 0.85, CFI: 0.91, IFI: 0.91, NFI: 0.86, RMSEA:0.29, SRMR: 0.08, demonstrating both discriminant validity and acceptable composite reliability. However, the convergent validity was partially met. Conclusion The final Seven-item scale contributes toward establishing an Arabic version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory. Due to the psychometric limitations, a revised version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory might be needed to ascertain the Arabic version that best captures the underlying constructs of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory.