Adaptation and psychometric assessment of the instrument “Partners of Adults with Type 1 Diabetes Distress Scale” in a Brazilian population

OBJECTIVES: To adapt the instrument “Partners of Adults with Type 1 Diabetes Distress Scale” (Partner-DDS) into Brazilian culture, and to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the adapted version. METHODS: All the cultural adaptation steps of the measure's instruments were followed. The psychometric properties such as reliability (stability by test-retest; internal consistency), and convergent construct validity were performed. RESULTS: Of all 72 partners, 69.4% were male, mean age: 42.69 ± 14.09 years, mean of marriage duration: 14.74 ± 12.41 years, and mean schooling: 11.81 ± 3.91 years. The internal consistency of the instrument (Cronbach Alpha) was 0.90. The intra-class coefficient (stability) was 0.80 (0.72–0.84). The Spearman coefficient (convergent construct validity) between the Partner-DDS scale and the Anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A) was 0.4273 (p < 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: The steps of the instruments' cultural adaptation were appropriately performed. The Brazilian version of the Partner- DDS scale demonstrates reliable psychometric properties for being used in POPWT1D distress evaluation in Brazil. INNOVATION: The cultural adaptation of Partner-DDS scale into Brazilian Portuguese is a helpful innovation to assess the emotional burden in POPWT1D. This tool could be used to provide education and psychological support for this population.