Translation, Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Power of Food Scale for Use by Adult Populations in Portugal.

Abstract

The Power of Food Scale measures appetite for, rather than consumption of, palatable foods - a construct frequently designated as hedonic hunger. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a Portuguese version of the Power of Food Scale, namely reliability and construct validity. Data was obtained from 1266 adult participants sampled from three different populations in Portugal: two nonclinical samples and one multi-center sample of severely obese candidates for weight-loss surgery. We found that the factor structure of the Portuguese version of the Power of Food Scale is similar to that of the original scale and that the Portuguese version of the Power of Food Scale has good internal structure, test-retest reliability and construct validity. In addition, we provide the first contribution towards defining population norms for Power of Food Scale scores. The Portuguese version of the Power of Food Scale proved to have good psychometric properties: it is a valid and reliable tool for measuring hedonic hunger, supporting its use both in clinical and non-clinical samples, as well as in prospective studies. Our results show that the Portuguese version of the Power of Food Scale is a useful measure for researchers and clinicians who are interested in exploring the construct of hedonic hunger in Portuguese-speaking populations, including those suffering from obesity.