Validation of English-language versions of three scales measuring attitudes towards smoking, smoking-related self-efficacy and the use of smoking cessation strategies
Introduction
Self-administered questionnaires are useful to study smoking behavior and to provide input data for computer programs that produce automatic, individually tailored counseling for smoking cessation (Etter & Perneger, 2001). One such program, initially developed in French, was later translated into English (http://www.stop-tabac.ch). Input for this program is produced by multi-item scales assessing, among other things, attitudes towards smoking, self-efficacy and the use of self-change strategies (Etter et al., 2000, Etter et al., 2000, Etter et al., 2000). We assessed whether the validity of these scales was maintained after translation into English.
Section snippets
Translation of the questionnaires
For each scale, three independent translations were made, including one by a professional translator. A synthesis of these translations was tested in 25 smokers and ex-smokers.
Data collection
The English-language versions of the scales were made available together on Stop-tabac.ch from January 1999 to May 2001. After completing the questionnaire, participants received an individually tailored counseling letter. Participants who wanted a follow-up letter came back to the website, identified themselves with a
Results
The database included 7353 records. We excluded 689 records (9%) because of duplicate entries (identified by computer numbers) or obviously aberrant values. We retained 5667 participants, of which 997 were also present at follow-up. The average interval between baseline and follow-up was 123 days (quartiles 43, 86 and 157 days). Participants were on average 38 years old, 59% were female and school attendance was on average 15 years. Daily smokers smoked on median 20 cigarettes per day, and 52%
Adverse effects of smoking
Higher scores on the “Adverse Effects of Smoking” scale were observed in smokers in the most advanced stages of change, as predicted by theory and previous research (Etter et al., 2000, Prochaska et al., 1994, Velicer et al., 1985). Also confirming previous research (Etter, Humair et al., 2000), heavy smokers had the most negative attitudes towards smoking, probably because heavy smoking conveys more risks. Because of space limitation, we did not include the scales measuring positive attitudes
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation to J.-F. Etter (3233-054994.98 and 3200-055141.98). Vincent Baujard, from the HON Foundation (www.hon.ch) developed the software for data collection.
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