Analysis of psychometric properties of the brazilian portuguese version of the community attitudes towards the mentally ill (CAMI-BR).
OBJECTIVE
To perform an analysis of the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the COMMUNITY ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE MENTALLY ILL (CAMI-BR), a 40-item scale divided into four sub-scales.


METHODS
The study was conducted in a non-probability sample of 230 households located close to therapeutic residences in the west area of Rio de Janeiro. Reliability was assessed by test-retest and the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to test the internal structure of the questionnaire.


RESULTS
Most participants were women, married, with children aged 18 years or over. The overall score was 27.72 (SD = 3.31), showing attitudes ranging from neutral to positive stereotypes. The scale showed a high internal consistency (? = 0.842), consistent with other international studies. In the factor analysis, the sample was adequate (KMO = 0.800). The strength of the correlations among subscales and the factors of factor analysis were highly satisfactory. The version in Brazilian Portuguese suggests a better distinction among sub-scales through the lower correlation among them (between 0.336 and 0.441) as compared to higher values (between 0.630 and 0.770) found in the original scale. The community mental health ideology sub-scale showed a strong relation to factor 1 (? = 0.910). Benevolence had a strong relationship with factor 2 (? = 0.847); Authoritarianism and Social Restrictiveness had the highest correlation with factor 3 (? = 0.631 and 0.577 respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The scale psychometric properties were maintained after adjustment. Having registered a lower correlation between the scales the factor analysis further suggests that the Brazilian Portuguese version conveys more clearly the differences between the sub-scales.
Institute of Studies in Collective Health (IESC); Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Lucia
L
Abelha
Studies Center of the Municipal Institute of Health Care Juliano Moreira (CE/IMASJM) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Silvia Rosa
SR
Gonçalves Siqueira
Institute of Studies in Collective Health (IESC); Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Leticia
L
Legay
School of Public Health; Columbia University New York, United States of America.|Institute of Studies in Collective Health (IESC), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Lawrence Hsin
LH
Yang
School of Public Health; Columbia University New York, United States of America.|Institute of Studies in Collective Health (IESC), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Eliecer
E
Valencia
Institute of Studies in Collective Health (IESC); Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Keli
K
Rodrigues Sarução
Institute of Studies in Collective Health (IESC); Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Giovanni Marcos
GM
Lovisi
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001938:Brazil; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014177:Translations