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O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar as propriedades psicométricas e validar a versão em português do Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ-Brasil): um instrumento de avaliação sobre as crenças e medos dos indivíduos com dor lombar e de como esta dor pode afetar suas atividades físicas, subescala FABQ-Phys, e ocupacionais, subescala FABQ-Work. O questionário foi traduzido para o português segundo metodologia recomendada e aplicado em 53 indivíduos com dor lombar crônica não específica. Coeficientes de correlação intraclasse (CCI) do teste-reteste e consistência interna do instrumento (a de Cronbach) foram adequadas, tanto para a FABQ-Phys (0,84 e 0,80, respectivamente) quanto para a FABQ-Work (0,91 e 0,90, respectivamente). A regressão múltipla stepwise revelou correlação significativa entre todos os itens isolados e suas respectivas subescalas, com a variação dos escores em cada uma delas sendo explicada em 99% pelo conjunto de seus itens. Correlação de Pearson entre as subescalas não foi significativa, mas entre estas e a intensidade da dor (escala visual numérica) e a incapacidade física (Questionário de Roland-Morris-Brasil) foi significativa e positiva. Portanto, o FABQ-Brasil apresentou propriedades psicométricas adequadas para ser utilizado na população brasileira com dor lombar crônica.

Quality assurance is currently an established activity in Europe, driven either by national quality assurance agencies or by institutions themselves. However, whether quality assurance is perceived as actually being capable of promoting quality is still a question open to discussion. Based on three different views on quality derived from the literature -quality as culture, as compliance and as consistency -the current article sheds light on this issue by identifying the main obstacles to quality as perceived by Portuguese academics. The analysis reveals that academics tend to see those obstacles as essentially related to the view of quality as culture and especially with its structural component, including the design and functioning of institutional governance and management. Although this may indeed correspond to the Portuguese higher education institutions' reality, one must not forget that academics tend to have a poor knowledge about the structural frames that are embedded in governance and management. By highlighting obstacles related to different views on quality, this study may serve as a base to the development of more effective quality assurance mechanisms.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore Portuguese academics' perceptions on higher education quality assessment objectives and purposes, in general, and on the recently implemented system for higher education quality assessment and accreditation, in particular. It aims to discuss the differences of those perceptions dependent on some academics' characteristics, such as: gender, disciplinary affiliation, type of higher education institution and experience in quality assurance activities. Design/methodology/approach -An online questionnaire with Likert-type answer scales was distributed to the Portuguese academic population (n ¼ 36,215). In total, 962 answers were collected from academics belonging to the public higher education system. Data were treated resorting to descriptive statistics, hypothesis tests and analysis of variance. Findings -Portuguese academics tend to support the majority of goals and purposes quality assessment may have, as well as the main features of the newly designed quality assessment and accreditation system. Nevertheless they tend to support more quality assessment mechanisms privileging improvement over control. This support is slightly more evident among female academics, academics from public polytechnic institutions, from medical and health sciences and with former experience in quality assurance activities. Originality/value -The study adds to the discussion on academics' perceptions on quality assurance, highlighting the influence played at this level by some of their characteristics. It is especially relevant for those working either in higher education institutions or governmental agencies, since it may contribute to the design of quality assurance systems academics are more likely to support.

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