Evidence of validity of Brazilian UCLA Loneliness ScaleObjective This study investigated the validity evidence of Loneliness Scale UCLA to be used in the Brazilian population.
Methods It was followed the phases authorization of the author and the Ethics Committee, translation and back-translation, semantic adaptation and validation of the test. Data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, exploratory factor, alpha Chronbach, Kappa, sphericity test of Bartlett, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test and Pearson’s correlation. To semantic adaptation the scale was submitted to specialists and a focus group with 8 participants and to cross-cultural adaptation the scale was submitted to a pilot study with 126 participants. In the validation participated 818 people, between 20 and 87 years, who responded to two versions of UCLA, Patient Health Questionnaire, Social Support Scale and a questionnaire made by the authors.
Results The scale showed two factors, which explained 56% of variance and alpha of 0.94.
Conclusions Loneliness Scale UCLA-BR indicated evidence of discriminant and construct validity, as well as good reliability. It can be used for evaluation of loneliness in the Brazilian population.
Psychometrics; validity of tests; loneliness; questionnaires
