Abstract

TOLEDO, Edson Luiz et al. Brazilian Portuguese cross-cultural adaptation of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Hairpulling Scale. Rev. psiquiatr. clín. [online]. 2011, vol.38, n.5, pp.178-183. ISSN 0101-6083.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0101-60832011000500002.

BACKGROUND: Trichotillomania (TTM) is characterized by the act of pulling out, in a recurrent way, your own hair for pleasure, gratification or tension release, leading to a perceptible hair loss, and it is included in the Impulse Control Disorders Unclassified Elsewhere of the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 1994) section. The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Hairpulling Scale is an instrument used recently in many studies to assess trichotillomania symptoms. OBJECTIVE: The present paper aims to adapt this scale into the Portuguese language. To cross-culturally adapt the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Hairpulling Scale to Portuguese and evaluate its internal consistency. This instrument aims to evaluate Trichotillomania. METHODS: The work consisted of five steps: (1) translation; (2) back-translation; (3) peer review and evaluation of semantic and conceptual equivalences using experts; (4) instrument evaluation through a sample of students, by evaluating their level of understanding; and (5) analysis of the instrument’s internal consistency through Cronbach’s a-coefficient. RESULTS: The instrument was translated and adapted to Portuguese, and shown to be easily understood, with an internal consistency value of 0.96. DISCUSSION: The instrument is now translated and adapted to Portuguese. Measurement and reproducibility analyses are needed.

Keywords : Trichotillomania; cross-cultural adaptation; scales; psychometric; validity studies.

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