Evaluation of semantic equivalence and internal consistency of the Game Addiction Scale (GAS): Portuguese version

Objective

To evaluate the semantic equivalence and internal consistency of the Game Addiction Scale (GAS): Portuguese version.

Methods

The procedure consisted of the following steps: a) literature review; b) translation of the original instrument; c) back-translation; d) technical review and evaluation of verbal comprehension performed by health professionals; e) evaluation of verbal comprehension of the instrument by a sample of students; f) analysis of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha). The participants, with the exception of the experts, were selected by convenience. The participation of the subjects was different in each phase: translators (n = 2), back-translation (n = 1), technical review (n = 2), specialists (n = 12), pretest with college students (n = 40) and measurement with college students (n = 100).

Results

Few semantic changes of expressions and terms were made to adapt to the target culture. The level of verbal comprehension of the participants (students and experts) was greater than 90% and Cronbach’s alpha analysis corresponded to 0.92 for the whole instrument.

Conclusion

The Escala de Dependência de Jogos Eletrônicos (ESDEJE) was submitted to translation and adaptation to Portuguese (Brazil), showing adequate internal consistency. Further, we suggest the fulfillment of the validity process concerning the equivalence of measurement and the reproducibility of the instrument.

Electronic games; psychometrics; Brazil; students; technology