Desenvolvimento e avaliação psicométrica de uma escala avaliativa do estilo de vida de idosos brasileiros

Abstract

Brazil is experiencing an accelerated period of demographic aging, with important implications for individuals, families and societies. Lifestyle is an important factor that can have both positive and negative health effects. However, the scarcity of instruments aimed at evaluating this construct makes it difficult to develop research in the area. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric qualities of an instrument to assess the lifestyle of the elderly. Individuals of both sexes over 60 years old participated in the research. The present thesis was developed in four stages, the last two of which occurred remotely, due to the COVID19 pandemic. In the first stage, the instrument items were generated through a literature review and analysis of interviews with 8 institutionalized elderly people, aged between 60 and 90 years (M= 81.0; SD= 11.12) and 32 non-institutionalized, aged between 60 and 93 years (M= 68.86; SD= 3.97). Initially, 96 items were elaborated that composed a single scale. In addition, instructions, format and response options were also developed. In the second stage, the content validity was verified by 12 experts and 20 members of the target audience aged between 60 and 84 years (M= 68.8; SD= 7.74). Some items have been deleted and reworded. Steps 3 and 4 analyzed the empirical and psychometric qualities of the new scale in a sample of 700 elderly people aged between 60 and 98 years (M=67.9; SD=7.07) from the five regions of Brazil. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. The “Elderly Lifestyle Scale” (EEVI) is composed of 19 items, with factor loadings that ranged from 0.546 to 0.807. They were divided into four subscales: “Preventive Behavior”, “Food”, “Physical Activity” and “Quality of Relationships”. All subscales showed α > 0.7. From this model, good adjustment measures were found (χ2/GL = 1.28 / RMSEA = 0.037 / NFI = 0.904 / NNFI = 0.973 / CFI = 0.977 / GFI = 0.953). The scale presented indicators of convergent validity, showing a correlation with quality of life related to physical and mental health and BMI. The scale also showed the ability to discriminate groups in terms of nutritional status, comorbidities and sex. From the established cut-off point, three classifications are possible: unhealthy, healthy and very healthy lifestyles. The EEVI demonstrated good psychometric qualities for noninstitutionalized elderly Brazilians over 60 years of age and its use is recommended in this population.