title: Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale: a psychometric study in a Portuguese sample.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS, Brazelton & Nugent, 1995) is an instrument conceived to observe the neonatal neurobehavior. Data analysis is usually performed by organizing items into groups. The most widely used data reduction for the NBAS was developed by Lester, Als, and Brazelton (1982).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Examine the psychometric properties of the NBAS items in a sample of 213 Portuguese infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  The NBAS was performed in the first week of infant life (3 days±2) and in the seventh week of life (52 days±5).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Principal component analyses yielded a solution of four components explaining 55.13% of total variance. Construct validity was supported by better neurobehavioral performance of 7-week-old infants compared with 1-week-old infants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Changes in the NBAS structure for the Portuguese sample are suggested compared to Lester factors in order to reach better internal consistency of the scale.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal. rcosta@iep.uminho.pt
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Bárbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Figueiredo
authors.forename: Iva
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tendais
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Conde
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pacheco
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation; D011174:Portugal; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires