title: Cross-cultural adaptation of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale for Brazilian Portuguese.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The internet has proven to be a valuable resource for self-care, allowing access to information and promoting interaction between professionals, caregivers, users of health care services and people interested in health information. However, recurring searches are often related to excessive health anxiety and a phenomenon known as cyberchondria can have impacts on physical and mental health. Within this background, a Cyberchondria Severity Scale has been developed to differentiate healthy and unhealthy behavior in internet searches for health information, based on the following criteria: compulsion, distress, excesses, and trust and distrust of health professionals.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To conduct cross-cultural adaptation of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale for Brazilian Portuguese, because of the lack of an appropriate instrument for Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was authorized by the original author of the scale. The process was divided into the following four steps: 1) initial translation, 2) back-translation, 3) development of a synthesized version, and 4) experimental application.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Translation into Brazilian Portuguese required some idiomatic expressions to be adapted. In some cases, words were not literally translated from English into Portuguese. Only items 7, 8, 12, 23 and 27 were altered, as a means of both conforming to proper grammar conventions and achieving easy comprehension. The items were rewritten without loss of the original content.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This paper presents a translated version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale that has been semantically adapted for the Brazilian population, providing a basis for future studies in this area, which should in turn contribute to improved understanding of the cyberchondria phenomenon in this population.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernanda Gonçalves da
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estácio de Sá, Nova Iguaçu, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estácio de Sá, Nova Iguaçu, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Isabor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cardoso
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001938:Brazil; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009770:Obsessive Behavior / Q000175:diagnosis; D011594:Psychometrics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis; D014175:Translating; D014177:Translations; D035502:Trust; D055815:Young Adult