Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Observable Social Cognition Rating Scale (OSCARS)

Background: Social interactions require social cognition. Social cognition and its shortcomings could be assessed by questionnaires and interviews. Objectives: The present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Persian versions of the Observable Social Cognition Rating scale (OSCARS) in students. Methods: This correlational study was conducted on 250 male and female students at the high schools of Dezfoul, Iran during 2019 - 2020. The participants were selected via multistage random sampling. The reliability, congruent validity, and concurrent validity of the Persian version of the OSCARS were evaluated using the teacher’s form of the OSCARS and the cognitive abilities questionnaire. The validity of the OSCARS was measured by confirmatory factor analysis, and its congruent validity and reliability were measured using the Cronbach’s alpha and split-half method. Results: The Cronbach’s alpha value of the entire scale, teacher’s form, and cognitive abilities questionnaire was 0.65, 0.60, and 0.85, respectively. The split-half coefficient for the entire scale was estimated at 0.60, and the correlation between the OSCARS and the teacher’s form was 0.35. Moreover, the correlation between the OSCARS and cognitive abilities questionnaire with the social cognition subscale was 0.15 and 0.13, respectively. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated the excellent fitness of the OSCARS structure (RMSEA = 0.02). Conclusions: According to the results, the Persian version of the OSCARS has good reliability and validity.