Construct validity and reliability of the Brazilian version of Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale.

OBJECTIVE To validate the construct and test the reliability of the Brazilian version of Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale. METHODS Methodological research with 220 participants in a primary health care unit from Curitiba, Parana. The data were collected with a social demographic questionnaire and the Brazilian version of the scale. The construct validity and reliability were assessed using Cronbach's Alpha, Pearson's Correlation and Analysis of Variance. The discriminant validity was verified comparing groups of people with hypertension and without, using T test. RESULTS Cronbach's Alpha was 0.74. The groups comparison showed that people with hypertension had better results (p<0,001). Pearson's Correlation showed that the questions measure different aspects of the same construct, justifying its organization in subdimensions. CONCLUSION The Brazilian version of Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale is a reliable instrument, which had its construct and criterion validated to measure knowledge about hypertension among Brazilian people. It can help health professionals with planning educative actions.