Instrument to screen cases of pervasive developmental disorder: a preliminary indication of validity.
OBJECTIVE
To translate into Portuguese, back-translate, culturally adapt and validate a screening instrument for pervasive developmental disorder, the Autism Screening Questionnaire, for use in Brazil.


METHODS
A sample of 120 patients was selected based on three groups of 40: patients with a clinical diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder, Down syndrome, or other psychiatric disorders. The self-administered questionnaire was applied to the patients' legal guardians. Psychometric measures of the final version of the translated questionnaire were tested.


RESULTS
The score of 15 had sensitivity of 92.5% and specificity of 95.5% as a cut-off point for the diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder. Internal validity for a total of 40 questions was 0.895 for alpha and 0.896 for KR-20, ranging from 0.6 to 0.8 for both coefficients. Test and retest reliability values showed strong agreement for most questions.


CONCLUSIONS
The final version of this instrument, translated into Portuguese and adapted to the Brazilian culture, had satisfactory measurement properties, suggesting preliminary validation proprieties. It was an easy-to-apply, useful tool for the diagnostic screening of individuals with pervasive developmental disorder.
Sato
Fábio Pinato
FP
Department of Psychiatry, Graduate Program, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. fpsato@uol.com.br
Paula
Cristiane Silvestre
CS
Lowenthal
Rosane
R
Nakano
Eduardo Yoshio
EY
Brunoni
Décio
D
Schwartzman
José Salomão
JS
Mercadante
Marcos Tomanik
MT
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating