Validação da Body Appreciation Scale (BAS), Life Satisfaction Index for the Third Age (LSITA) e do Aging Perception Questionnaire (APQ) para a língua portuguesa no Brasil

Abstract

The body image is the mental representation of the existential body. It is a dynamic, singular and structured process in the one's body experience. Due to the body image dynamism it is possible to have adaption and development of this image, even with the constant changes that occur in the, physical, psychic and social dimensions lived by the elderly rather than the aging process. The aim of this research was to adapt transculturally and to validate to the Brazil's Portuguese language the scales Body Appreciation Scale, Life satisfaction Index for the Third Age and Aging Perception Questionnaire in the Brazilian elderly. The research comprised in two phases:(1) translation and cultural adaptation of the scales and (2) psychometric evaluation of the scales. To accomplish the first phasetranslation and adaptation of the scales -the procedure was according to the recommendations of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons/Institute of Work & Health. (BEATON et al, 2002) following five steps which consisted of translation, back translation, experts committee, and pre-test. Just in the last step, the pre-test, it was followed the Malhotra (2006) andFerreira et al., (2011) recommendations. On the second phase of the research, the procedure was with the psychometric analysis of the instruments, so that, it was established evidences of the construct validation and internal reliability of the three scales through the confirmatory factorial analysis in a non-probabilistic sample of 606 elderly, over 60 years. All the scales reported internal reliability, with Cronbach alpha values and appropriated composed reliability as the discriminant and convergent validation. In general, for the scales BAS, LSITA e APQ, the sample reported respectively, body appreciation, life satisfaction and positive aging perception. Future researches could investigate the association of those constructs with other intrinsic aspects to the aging process using probabilistic samples and studies with different methodological drawings, as for instance, longitudinal. Besides they could investigate causality relation, through Structural Equation Modeling, among the three constructs. However, it was believed that the translation, transcultural adaptation and the accomplishment of the psychometric studies of the scales can bring contribution to the health and social areas into the understanding of the behavior of the body image during the old age.