Adaptation and validation of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire to Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Original ArticleResumo Introdução: A tomada de decisão (TD) é uma das habilidades mais relevantes para a funcionalidade. No entanto, esta habilidade é geralmente avaliada por meio de tarefas comportamentais, cuja validade ecológica tem sido questionada. De acordo com a literatura, a avaliação da TD deve ser complementada por questionários ou escalas, instrumentos estes que não estão disponíveis no português brasileiro. Desta forma, o objetivo deste estudo foi a tradução e validação de uma versão do Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ), o instrumento mais amplamente utilizado na avaliação da TD, para uso em português. Métodos: A adaptação da MDMQ foi realizada através da tradução, retrotradução, avaliação por painel de juízes e estudo piloto. A versão da escala produzida neste processo foi submetida a análise fatorial e avaliação de consistência interna, levando a exclusão de 4 itens da escala original. A versão resultante da MDMQ, contando com 18 itens no total, foi então utilizada em estudo de validação, em que a TD foi comparada entre adultos saudáveis e portadores de depressão e transtorno bipolar. Resultados:O instrumento demonstrou consistência interna satisfatória, apesar da obtenção de alfas de Cronbach relativamente baixos para a subescala de hipervigilância. A estrutura fatorial do questionário traduzido foi semelhante a observada no instrumento original. Todas as medidas derivadas da MDMQ, mostraram-se discriminativas na comparação entre adultos saudáveis e portadores de transtornos mentais. Conclusão: A versão da MDMQ produzida neste estudo poderá realizar uma importante contribuição para a prática clínica e pesquisa neuropsicológica acerca da TD. Descritores: Tomada de decisões; inquéritos e questionários; psicometria; neuropsicologia. AbstractIntroduction: Decision making (DM) is among the most important abilities for everyday functioning. However, the most widely used measures of DM come from behavioral paradigms, whose ecological validity and standalone use has been criticized in the literature. Though these issues could be addressed by the use of DM questionnaires as a complementary assessment method, no such instruments have been validated for use in Brazilian Portuguese. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct the translation and validation of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ) for use in a Brazilian population. Methods: The adaptation of the MDMQ involved the following steps: translation, back-translation, expert review and pilot study. These steps were followed by factor analysis and internal consistency measurements, which led to the exclusion of 4 items from the scale. The 18-item version of the MDMQ was then administered to a validation sample consisting of healthy adults, as well as patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Results: The instrument displayed good internal consistency, with the hypervigilance subscale showing the lowest, though still acceptable, Cronbach's alpha value. It...

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“…ponsibilities (Cotrena et al, 2018). The reliability of the MDMQ in the sample of offenders and non-offenders was .79 and .80, respectively.…”

Association of Self-Perceived Psychological Stress with the Periodontal Health of Socially Deprived Women in Shelter Homes

“…This could be due to the lack of a standard scale, and variability in the selection of different instruments and scales utilized for psychological assessment. Furthermore, there are biological markers or diagnostic tools that could safely detect most psychiatric disturbances [ 33 ]. The psychological variables are usually measured by self-reported scales and do not allow an assessment of the subjective and behavioral aspects of individuals.…”

Decision-making profile in older adults: the influence of cognitive impairment, premorbid intelligence and depressive symptoms

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“…DM is a cognitive ability involving the choice between two or more competing alternatives based on concomitant environmental information that will ensure actions are taken after observing and understanding positive and negative factors involved, as well as their short-, medium-and long-term outcomes (Dittrich and Johansen, 2013;Mata et al, 2011). This ability is usually evaluated by behavioral tasks whose ecological validity has proven unsatisfactory (Cotrena et al, 2018). The study of DM in healthy older adults, or those with neuropsychiatric diseases, could be complemented by the use of validated scales and questionnaires that have greater clinical and ecological impact than several behavioral or experimental tasks (Isquith et al, 2013).…”