Equivalência semântica da versão brasileira da Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS)

Abstract

Introduction: There has been a growing scientific production on the adaptation of international instruments for social phobia. The cross-cultural adaptation is the first stage on the comparisons between different populations and presents the advantage of a low financial cost. This paper consisted in the process of semantic equivalence of the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale for the Brazilian population of different sociocultural levels. Methods: The semantic equivalence involved two translations and back-translations performed by two independent evaluators, an evaluation of the versions and the development of a synthetic version, and a commented pretest. Results: The results of the four stages were showed for each item of the instrument. Most participants had no difficulties in understanding the instrument. Conclusion: Use of two versions of translations, critical appraisal of the versions, and assessment of the target population provides more safety to the process of semantic equivalence. Copyright © Revista de Psiquiatria do Rio Grande do Sul - APRS.