Cross-cultural adaptation into Brazilian Portuguese and exploratory validation of two measures of emotional eating

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to cross-culturally adapt the Positive-Negative Emotional Eating Scale and the Florence Emotional Eating Drive into the Portuguese language and investigate their dimensionality (i.e., validity) for a sample of Brazilian individuals. Methods The cross-cultural adaptation process entailed translation, synthesis, expert committee review, pretesting, back-translation, and submission to the original authors. From the translations, synthesized versions of the measures emerged, which were evaluated by a committee of experts. Subsequently, the preliminary version was pre-tested with the target audience. A larger group of individuals completed the final Portuguese version of the instruments online, and the data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis to ascertain their dimensionality. Results Thirty-six individuals (female: 76.5%, mean age: 26.3±9.6 years) participated in the pretest, reporting ease in comprehending the content of both Positive-Negative Emotional Eating Scale and Florence Emotional Eating Drive. The back-translations closely resembled the originals, as confirmed by the authors of the instruments. Data from 721 individuals (female: 61.2%, mean age: 32.2±10.6 years) who completed the measures were analyzed. A two-factor model for Positive-Negative Emotional Eating Scale demonstrated a good fit, consistent with the original proposal. For Florence Emotional Eating Drive, a three-factor model akin to the original proposal emerged, with six items loading on different factors. Conclusion The Positive-Negative Emotional Eating Scale and Florence Emotional Eating Drive were successfully adapted to Portuguese, with Brazilian participants indicating good understanding. The dimensionality of the measures remained consistent with the original proposals. These findings offer valuable insights for future screening protocols to foster appropriate eating behaviors.