Abstract

FERREIRA, Pedro L.; QUINTAL, Carlota; LOPES, Inês  and  TAVEIRA, Natélia. Test for nicotine dependence: psychometric and linguistic validation of Fagerström Test. Rev. Port. Sau. Pub. [online]. 2009, vol.27, n.2, pp.37-56. ISSN 0870-9025.

The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence has been widely used as a measure of tobacco dependence. However, its Portuguese version has never before been subjected to a validation process. This was the objective of the current study. The cultural and linguistic adaptation included the use of the forward-backward translation, after a conceptual definition followed by pilot tests and a final revision. To validate the Portuguese version obtained in the previous stage, samples were recruited among smokers who attended occupational medicine, pneumology and tobacco dependence consultations, in a total of 264 smokers. Test-retest reliability was guaranteed by correlation scores of 0.990 for the original scale and 0.975 to 1.000 for individual questions. Internal consistency Cronbach» alpha was 0.660, a low value regarding the traditional standards, but higher than the values found by the authors and similar to the ones found  in other studies. Criterion validity test obtained good results when scores from the scale were compared with some variables related to tobacco habit and to the self assessment of the tobacco dependence. Construct validity through factorial analysis explained 59% of   the variance and detected two factors corresponding to the cigarettes consumption and morning smoke. In conclusion, some doubts remain regarding the utilization of  the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence. We consider that professionals as well as researchers should not rely only on the outputs produced by this scale and should also include  questions about addiction which are not included in the original version.

Keywords : Fagerström test; tobacco dependence; Portuguese version; validation.

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