Cross-cultural adaptation, content validity and analysis of items of the Objective and Subjective Knowledge and HIV Testing Scale for the Brazilian population.

Abstract

The objective was to propose a Portuguese version of the Objective and Subjective Knowledge and HIV Testing Scale (OSK-HIV-TS), to assess content validity and to perform analysis of items when applied to a sample of undergraduate students. Three translators translated the OSK-HIV-TS into Portuguese. Judges evaluated each item of the consensual version of the translated instrument according to semantic, idiomatic, cultural, and conceptual equivalences. A consensus committee reviewed the back-translated and original versions of the OSK-HIV-TS. Content validity was calculated by content validity index and analysis of items conducted using Classical Test Theory (CTT). The translated scale presented semantic, idiomatic, conceptual, and cultural equivalence in relation to the original version. A total of 491 undergraduate students participated and a high proportion of right answers was observed on the distribution of students' responses to the OSK-HIV-TS. All items were classified as easy or very easy and only the item 16 was classified as strong according to discrimination index. The OSK-HIV-TS is a novel instrument for assessing HIV knowledge in Brazilian literature that can inspire more research on HIV/AIDS behavior and associated factors, which, despite being essential and necessary, are still lacking in the Brazilian literature.