The Body Esteem Scale for Adults and Adolescents: Translation, adaptation and psychometric validation among Brazilian adolescents.

A lack of rigorously validated body image measures for use among adolescents is hampering research in Brazil. This study aimed to validate a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Body Esteem Scale for Adults and Adolescents (BESAA; Mendelson et al., 2001). The BESAA was forward and back translated from English into Brazilian Portuguese before examining its factor structure, reliability, and validity among 475 adolescents (50.3% girls) aged 13 - 18 years (Mage = 15.35) from various regions across Brazil. Exploratory factor analysis identified an 18-item three-factor solution, with Appearance-Positive, Appearance-Negative, and Weight subscales. The removal of five problematic items led to a psychometrically robust model, invariant across gender and age, and was verified using confirmatory factor analysis. Test re-test reliability and internal consistency were good-to-excellent across all three factors (Cronbach's a =0.85,.88, and.89). Concurrent validity was established through significant correlations with body dissatisfaction. Convergent validity was demonstrated via significant correlations with positive and negative affect. This Brazilian Portuguese version of the BESAA is a valid, reliable, and psychometrically robust measure of body image suitable for administration among adolescents in Brazil.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Health State Description Questionnaire in Chile: A Proposal for a Latent Variable Approach for Valuating Health States.

BACKGROUND: A few instruments that identify and valuate health states are based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health States of the World Health Organization. One of them is the Health State Description (HSD) questionnaire first used in the World Health Survey (WHS) initiative (HSD-WHS), whose psychometric properties have not been evaluated in Chile. Additionally, the use of latent variables for the valuation process of health states has been scarcely investigated in the context of population health metrics. We aim to evaluate the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the HSD-WHS for Chile and describe a latent variable method for valuating health states associated with diseases. METHODS: We used data from the second Chilean National Health population-based survey from 2009 to 2010 (N = 5293). We explored the factorial structure of the HSD-WHS through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the reliability, and the discriminant validity of the latent variable of disability. Disability weights for diseases were calculated using a linear regression model. RESULTS: We found an adequate goodness of fit for a second-order model with 9 factors corresponding to disability domains (Tucker-Lewis index = 0.99, comparative fit index = 0.99, root mean square error of approximation = 0.060), and good reliability estimates (standardized α = 0.91). The rescaled (between 0 and 100) latent variable of disability showed significant difference according to the explored variables. We estimated disability weights for the following: (1) depressive episode, 13.6 (12.1-15.2), (2) hypertension, 1.6 (0.0-3.3), and (3) diabetes, 5.0 (2.5-7.4). CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the use of the HSD-WHS questionnaire in the Chilean population and a latent variable approach for valuating health states associated with diseases.