Brazilian Portuguese version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS-Brasil).
OBJECTIVE
To describe the cross-cultural adaptation of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) for use in Brazil.


METHODS
Cross-cultural adaptation followed a four-step process, based on specialized literature: 1) investigation of conceptual and item equivalence; 2) translation and back-translation; 3) pretest; and 4) investigation of operational equivalence. All these procedures were carried out for both the child and the parent versions of the SCAS.


RESULTS
A final Brazilian version of the instrument, named SCAS-Brasil, was defined and is presented.


CONCLUSIONS
The SCAS-Brasil instrument seems to be very similar to the original SCAS in terms of conceptual and item equivalence, semantics, and operational equivalence, suggesting that future cross-cultural studies may benefit from this early version. As a result, a new instrument is now available for the assessment of childhood anxiety symptoms in community, clinical, and research settings.
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Diogo A
DA
DeSousa
UFRGS.
Circe S
CS
Petersen
UFRGS.
Rafaela
R
Behs
UFRGS.
Gisele G
GG
Manfro
UFRGS.
Silvia H
SH
Koller