Adapting the Emotional Dysregulation Questionnaire for South Africa: methods of adaptation and psychometric properties of the South African Emotional Dysregulation Scale
7 affiliations
- 1Gender and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa
- 2Office of the Executive Scientist, South African Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa
- 3School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- 4The School of Applied Human Sciences (Psychology), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
- 5Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa
- 6School of Public Health: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
- 7School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria
Abstract
Purpose: Emotional dysregulation is an important aspect of psychopathology, especially borderline personality disorder, and is prevalent in populations exposed to multiple traumas, like South Africa. We describe adaptation of the emotional dysregulation questionnaire (EDQ) for South Africa and its psychometric performance.
Methods: We enrolled 58 ethnically-diverse women, who had experienced severe intimate partner violence, in eight group discussions held in three Provinces. They were asked what they did when they were upset, and related questions. During the groups, cognitive interviews focused on the EDQ. We adapted the EDQ using these findings, removing very similar or poorly understood items, and drafted new items for matters raised by the women. The resulting 23 items were tested with 236 women in a pilot study.
Results: Women described a range of behaviours when they were upset that indicated loss of control such as drinking heavily, being abusive, breaking things and beating their children. In the pilot, two items were highly skewed and three, measuring restricted emotional expression, were also poorly correlated with the rest of the scale and performance was poorer with them included. The remaining 18 items performed well with Cronbach’s alpha=0.862, acceptable item-rest correlations, and KMO = 0.865 (all items were above 0.80). On confirmatory factor analysis, the 18-item measure had the best fit. The measure was positively associated with depression, borderline personality disorder, PTSD and complex PTSD.
Conclusion: The adapted emotional dysregulation questionnaire had robust psychometric properties and is positioned to be a useful scale with traumatised populations in South Africa.
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BibTeX
@article{jewkes2026adapting,
title = {{Adapting the Emotional Dysregulation Questionnaire for South Africa: methods of adaptation and psychometric properties of the South African Emotional Dysregulation Scale}},
author = {Rachel Jewkes and Esnat Chirwa and Samantha Willan and Gugulethu Gigaba and Naeemah Abrahams and Leane Ramsoomar and Pinky Mahlangu and Mercilene Machisa and Charntel Paile and Jani Nöthling},
journal = {SSM. Mental health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.ssmmh.2026.100611},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2026.100611},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Adapting the Emotional Dysregulation Questionnaire for South Africa: methods of adaptation and psychometric properties of the South African Emotional Dysregulation Scale
AU - Rachel Jewkes
AU - Esnat Chirwa
AU - Samantha Willan
AU - Gugulethu Gigaba
AU - Naeemah Abrahams
AU - Leane Ramsoomar
AU - Pinky Mahlangu
AU - Mercilene Machisa
AU - Charntel Paile
AU - Jani Nöthling
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/31
JO - SSM. Mental health
DO - 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2026.100611
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2026.100611
AB - Purpose: Emotional dysregulation is an important aspect of psychopathology, especially borderline personality disorder, and is prevalent in populations exposed to multiple traumas, like South Africa. We describe adaptation of the emotional dysregulation questionnaire (EDQ) for South Africa and its psychometric performance. Methods: We enrolled 58 ethnically-diverse women, who had experienced severe intimate partner violence, in eight group discussions held in three Provinces. They were asked what they did when they were upset, and related questions. During the groups, cognitive interviews focused on the EDQ. We adapted the EDQ using these findings, removing very similar or poorly understood items, and drafted new items for matters raised by the women. The resulting 23 items were tested with 236 women in a pilot study. Results: Women described a range of behaviours when they were upset that indicated loss of control such as drinking heavily, being abusive, breaking things and beating their children. In the pilot, two items were highly skewed and three, measuring restricted emotional expression, were also poorly correlated with the rest of the scale and performance was poorer with them included. The remaining 18 items performed well with Cronbach’s alpha=0.862, acceptable item-rest correlations, and KMO = 0.865 (all items were above 0.80). On confirmatory factor analysis, the 18-item measure had the best fit. The measure was positively associated with depression, borderline personality disorder, PTSD and complex PTSD. Conclusion: The adapted emotional dysregulation questionnaire had robust psychometric properties and is positioned to be a useful scale with traumatised populations in South Africa.
SN - 2666-5603
ER -