Development and validation of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale (RIBS-BP)

Objectives: To translate and validate the Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale (RIBS) into Brazilian Portuguese. Methods: A native Brazilian speaker fluent in English translated the RIBS into Brazilian Portuguese. Comprehensibility and face validity were assessed through discussions with mental health professionals and volunteers recruited from the community. Brazilian Portuguese version of the questionnaire was back translated into English by another Brazilian researcher fluent in English and the researcher who developed the original RIBS was consulted to check the adequacy of the questionnaire translation, and approved the final translated version. RIBS-BP was administered to 1357 caregivers from a community-based cohort. Internal consistency and factor loading were assessed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Differential item functioning was examined using Multiple Indicator Multiple Causes for subgroups of gender, socioeconomic status and caregiver education. To assess external validity, we examined whether responses in RIBS-BP varied among these subgroups, considering respondents’ previous contact with people with mental illness. Results: CFA fit indices were good to excellent (RMSEA = 0.07 [0.04 – 0.10 90% CI]; CFI = 1.00; TLI = 1.00). All loadings were above 0.4 (0.73 to 0.89), indicating that intended behaviour items are related to the same unidimensional latent factor. In the latent model, higher socioeconomic status was associated with less intended stigma-related behaviour (s=0.20, p<0.001), adjusted for education and gender. Conclusion: RIBS-BP has good internal consistency, demonstrate measurement invariance among subgroups, and appears to be a valid measure of stigma, representing a suitable tool to assess reported and intended stigma-related behaviours in Brazil.