Validação do Autism Stigma Knowledge – Questionnaire (ASK-Q) para o português brasileiro

Abstract

Introduction. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders with a worldwide prevalence of 1%. However, the general population, the level of health, including pharmacists and Pharmacy students, have a low level of knowledge about this disorder or level of record of knowledge about the professional life of people with autism. In Brazil, there are still no instruments or studies to assess the knowledge of Pharmacy students and pharmacists about autism. Objective. Validate the Autism Stigma Knowledge – Questionnaire (ASK-Q) for Brazilian Portuguese. Method. This is a cross-cultural adaptation study carried out from October 2020 to May 2021 in six stages, as recommended in the literature: i) translation of the ASK-Q; ii) synthesis of translations; iii) evaluation by an expert committee (with the participation of a person with autism); iv) evaluation by the target audience (pharmacists and Pharmacy students); v) back translation; vi) evaluation by the author of the original instrument. Content-based validity evidence was performed with the participation of autism experts. The Content Validity Coefficient (CVC) was calculated to determine the agreement between experts. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CAAE 39222520.6.0000.8151). Results. The translated version of the ASK-Q presented semantic, conceptual, cultural and idiomatic equivalence. Assessment by the target population indicated that the instrument was clear, objective and with adequate language. The lead author assured that the Brazilian version maintained the essence and conceptual idea of the original items. Finally, the CVC was 0.89. Conclusion. The ASK-Q instrument was adapted and validated for Brazilian Portuguese in an adequate way and can be used to assess the knowledge of Brazilian Pharmacy students and pharmacists about ASD, however, other validation studies should be carried out.