Cross-cultural adaptation, content validity, and item analysis of the Objective and Subjective Knowledge and HIV Testing Scale for the Brazilian population

OBJECTIVES: To propose a Portuguese version of the Objective and Subjective Knowledge and HIV Testing Scale (OSK-HIV-TS), assess its content validity, and perform item analysis after administration to a sample of undergraduate students. METHODS: Three translators translated the OSK-HIV-TS into Portuguese. Judges evaluated each item of a consensus version of the translated instrument for semantic, idiomatic, cultural, and conceptual equivalence. A consensus committee reviewed a back-translation against the original version of the OSK-HIV-TS. Content validity was calculated with the content validity index (CVI) and item analysis was conducted using Classical Test Theory (CTT). RESULTS: The translated scale achieved semantic, idiomatic, conceptual, and cultural equivalence to the original version. A total of 491 undergraduate students participated and the distribution of students’ responses to the OSK-HIV-TS revealed a high proportion of correct answers. All items were classified as easy or very easy and only item 16 was classified having strong discrimination power according to the discrimination index. CONCLUSION: The OSK-HIV-TS is a novel instrument in the Brazilian literature for assessing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) knowledge and should inspire more research into HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) behavior and associated factors, which, despite being essential and necessary, is still lacking in the Brazilian literature.