OBJETIVO: Descrever o processo de adaptação, para o português, da versão resumida da "job stress scale", originalmente elaborada em inglês. MÉTODOS: Foram avaliados seis aspectos de equivalência entre a escala original e a versão para o português: as equivalências conceitual, semântica, operacional, de itens, de medidas e funcional. Tomou-se por base um estudo de confiabilidade teste-reteste com 94 indivíduos selecionados. RESULTADOS: O estudo de confiabilidade teste-reteste entre 94 indivíduos permitiu estimativas de reprodutibilidade (coeficientes de correlação intraclasse) para as dimensões de "demanda", "controle" e "apoio social" da escala de 0,88, 0,87 e 0,85, respectivamente. Para as mesmas dimensões, as estimativas de consistência interna (alpha de Cronbach) foram, respectivamente, 0,79, 0,67 e 0,85. CONCLUSÕES: Os resultados sugerem que o processo de adaptação da escala foi bem sucedido, indicando que seu uso no contexto sociocultural da população de estudo (Estudo Pró-Saúde) é apropriado.

This paper evaluates the construct validity of the Medical Outcomes Study's social support scale adapted to Portuguese, when utilized in a cohort study among non-faculty civil servants at a university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Pró-Saúde Study). Baseline data were obtained in 1999, when 4,030 participants (92.0% of those eligible) completed a multidimensional self-administered questionnaire at the workplace. From the original scale's five social support dimensions, factor analysis of the data extracted only three dimensions: positive social interaction/affective support; emotional/information support; and material support. We estimated associations between social support dimensions and socio-demographic, health, and well being-related characteristics. We confirmed the hypotheses that less isolated individuals, those with better self-rated health, those who reported more participation in group activities, and those with no evidence of common mental disorders reported better perception of social support. In conclusion, we found good evidence for a high construct validity of this scale, supporting its use in future analyses in the Pró-Saúde Study and in similar population groups.

No abstract

The authors conducted a case-control study among premenopausal women in the Baltimore, Maryland, area to examine the associations of uterine leiomyoma with ethnicity and hormone-related characteristics. Cases of uterine leiomyoma (n = 318) were surgically or sonographically first confirmed between January 1990 and June 1993. A total of 394 controls were selected from women who were visiting their gynecologist for a routine checkup. Data were collected through telephone interviews and abstraction of medical records; 77.8% of eligible cases and 78.0% of eligible controls were interviewed. Positive adjusted associations were observed between risk of uterine leiomyoma and self-described African-American ethnicity (vs. Whites: odds ratio (OR) = 9.4; 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.7, 15.7), early menarche (<11 years vs. >13 years: OR = 2.4; 95% CI: 1.1, 5.6), and high body mass index (upper quartile vs. lower quartile: OR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.4, 3.8). Inverse associations were observed with use of oral contraceptives (current use vs. never use: OR = 0.2, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.6) and duration of smoking (> or =19 years vs. never: OR = 0.6; 95% CI: 0.4, 1.1). Younger ages at infertility diagnosis and at first and last childbirth were more common among cases; however, analyses of data on tumor location suggested that these associations represent predominantly consequences of uterine leiomyoma. These results suggest that development of uterine leiomyoma is associated with increased exposure to ovarian hormones. Possible reasons for the very elevated risk among African-American women need further investigation.

We describe methodological steps in the selection of questions on social networks and support for a cohort study of 4,030 employees from a public university in Rio de Janeiro. First, group discussions with volunteers were conducted to explore the adequacy of related concepts. Next, questions in the Medical Outcomes Study questionnaire were submitted to standard "forward-" and "back-translation" procedures. The questions were subsequently evaluated through five stages of pre-tests and a pilot study. No question had a proportion of non-response greater than 5%. Pearson correlation coefficients between questions were distant from both zero and unity; correlation between all items and their dimension score was higher than 0.80 in most cases. Finally, Cronbach Alpha coefficients were above 0.70 within each dimension. Results suggest that social networks and support will be adequately measured and will allow for the investigation of their associations with health outcomes in a Brazilian population.