Evaluation of the Ability to Sing Easily: Adaptation and validation to the European Portuguese language

Abstract

Purpose: To adapt and validate the Evaluation of the Ability to Sing Easily (EASE) to the European Portuguese language; to compare scores according to singing style, voice use, and demography variables; to conduct psychometric tests. Methods: A five-step approach was adopted to ensure the cross-cultural adaptation of the instrument including forward translation, backward translation, committee opinions, and pilot testing. Results: The pilot test was conducted with ten singers, which determined the reformulation of seven items, thereby, allowing the formulation of the final form. The EASE-PT was completed by 120 singers, age range 18–72 and 58.3% were female. Median results were significantly higher for Choir singers except for one item where the median was significantly higher for Fado singers. High internal consistency was obtained, Cronbach’s alpha > 0.80 for EASE scale for both Fado and Choir singers, and its sub scales were close to or exceeded 0.80. Conclusion: EASE-PT may be considered a reliable tool to apply in the case of Portuguese singers as the outcome supports the ability of EASE-PT to measure the same constructs in a way similar to that of the original version.