Adaptação transcultural e propriedades psicométricas da versão brasileira do Adolescent Resilience Questionnaire (ARQ)

Abstract

Resilience is understood as a set of psychic and social dynamic processes related to the human ability to overcome stressful events in life in a positive manner. Since this subjective psychological construct is becoming increasingly interesting to researchers, instruments are required to assess resilience. The aim of the present study was to perform the cross-cultural adaptation of the Adolescent Resilience Questionnaire (ARQ) and evaluate its reliability and validity for use with Brazilian adolescents aged between 12 and 14 years. The translation and transcultural adaptation processes were conducted following international specifications. Firstly, the ARQ was translated by two Brazilian translators who are bilingual and fluent in both of the languages used (Portuguese and English). The two translated versions were compared by a committee containing experts in validation studies. Subsequently, a unified version was produced and back translated by a translator whose native language is English and who is also fluent in Portuguese. This back translation was sent to the authors of the ARQ with a request for their considerations on whether the original meaning of the items had been maintained. Once the Brazilian version of the ARQ had been defined, a pre-test was conducted with a convenience sample containing 21 adolescents (seven aged 12, seven aged 13 and seven aged 14). Cognitive interviews were carried out with the adolescents, who had the opportunity to suggest modifications related to the comprehension of questions, the format of the questionnaire and the response options. All of the considerations were debated by the same committee of experts, who defined the final Brazilian version of the ARQ. This version was then tested using a convenience sample of 210 adolescent students from public and private schools in the city of Dom Pedrito-RS (Brazil). All of the students completed the instrument, which contains 88 items and a socio-demographic questionnaire. Descriptive analysis of the internal consistency [Cronbachs alpha (á)], the validity of the construct (Pearson´s coefficient of correlation) and the discriminant validity (method of known groups) were conducted. The Cronbachs á was 0.88 for the total score of the questionnaire, with the following scores for the domains: Individual, 0.75; Family, 0.87; School, 0.77; Friends, 0.43 and Community, 0.83. Seven of the 12 sub-domains exhibited Cronbachs á values of less than 0.70: confidence: 0.59; emotional perception: 0.61; negative cognition: 0.66; social skills: 0.26; empathy/tolerance: 0.37, for the Individual domain; availability: 0.34, for the Peers domain and availability: 0.37, for the School domain. The domains that exhibited the strongest positive correlations were School with Family and Community with Family (r = 0.56, p<0.01 and r = 0.45, p<0.01, respectively). The scores for the Individual domain and the total questionnaire were higher among adolescents whose parents had completed more than 12 years of study (p = 0.010 and p = 0.011, respectively). In conclusion, the Brazilian version of the ARQ can be considered as an instrument that is capable of assessing the resilience of Brazilian adolescents aged between 12 and 14 years, considering the total scale.