Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Portuguese version of the “European Health and Behaviour Survey-section B”

BACKGROUND: The European Health and Behaviour Survey is a questionaire used to assess a wide range of health-related behaviours, attitudes to health, beliefs concerning the importance of behaviours for health, and health knowledge, using a standardized protocol suitable for translation and administration in different countries of Europe. The objective of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the EHBS-Section B (section used to assess attitudes towards the importance of 25 activities for health) to the Portuguese language and to test its reliability and validity. METHODS: This new version was obtained with forward/backward translations, consensus panels and a pre-test. The Portuguese versions of EHBS-Section B, Health and Risk-taking Behaviour Scale (HRBS), Health Belief Scale (HBS) and a form for the characteristics of the participants were applied to 849 Portuguese adolescents. RESULTS: Reliability was good with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.867, and an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.96. Corrected item-total coefficients ranged from 0.301 to 0.620 and weighted kappa coefficients ranged from 0.74 to 0.94 for the 17 items of the EHBS-Section B. Construct validity was supported by the confirmation of two predefined hypotheses involving expected significant correlations between EHBS-Section B, HRBS and HBS that represent similar constructs. CONCLUSIONS: The Portuguese EHBS-Section B exhibited suitable psychometric properties, in terms of internal consistency, reproducibility and construct validity. It can be used in educational and research settings.