Translation, adaptation and validation of the MICA-4 scale in Brazil with application for medical students

Abstract

Introduction: Psychiatric diseases are increasing in prevalence in recent decades, being also the pathologies in which stigmatizing attitudes are most often observed. Objective: To translate the MICA-4 scale into Portuguese with cross-cultural adaptation for use in Brazil and to verify the possibility for the contribution of the tool to assess improvements in medical training through its application to medical students. Method: Seven steps were required for its translation and validation. Moreover, the work consisted of applying the test in two moments to a group of 60 medical students who participated in an internship rotation in a psychiatric hospital in a Brazilian city. Result: The validation of the MICA-4 scale consisted of the steps of translation, synthesis, back-translation, expert committee, pre-test, textual verification and application, which were successfully performed. The scale achieved an agreement among the experts and there was no difficulty among the students during the test application. In the data analysis after application of the questionnaire during the two moments, of the 16 items of the scale, item 9 obtained statistical relevance (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study analyzed the students’ perception of stigmatizing situations, and most of the answers were consistent with less prejudiced actions even before the internship experience, being corroborated after this period. The issues that still showed stigmatizing attitudes demonstrate the need to improve teaching tools that can reduce these negative attitudes and contribute to the training of good professionals and, consequently, better quality of care.