The perceived personal control (PPC) questionnaire serves as an instrument to assess the concept of PPC, which refers to a person’s perception of their ability to achieve positive outcomes while avoiding the negative effects of a given situation. Developed and used as a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) in genetic counseling, the PPC questionnaire has been translated and validated in several languages, but not in French. The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt and validate a French version of the PPC questionnaire to evaluate genetic counseling services for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC). After the translation into French, cognitive interviews were conducted with nine participants who had attended genetic counseling for HBOC to examine the adequacy of this French version and to verify participants’ understanding of the questionnaire items. Cognitive interview data suggested that slight modifications should be made to four of the nine items and that it would be beneficial to add a short introduction to ensure that participants’ interpretation corresponded to the intended meaning. Psychometric validation was then conducted with 99 participants who had also attended genetic counseling for HBOC. Counselees completed the questionnaire before and after their genetic consultation. The acceptability of the questionnaire was demonstrated by the presence of few missing items. The original three-factor solution was not confirmed by our exploratory factor analysis, suggesting that the questionnaire should be used as a one-dimensional instrument. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was high, with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.89 before genetic counseling and 0.88 after. The significant increase in PPC scores before and after genetic counseling supports the responsiveness of the questionnaire. Convergent validity was confirmed by positive association with counselees’ satisfaction with genetic counseling. These properties suggest the French PPC questionnaire is a valuable instrument for use as a PROM in genetic counseling research.
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