Validade de critério concorrente de uma escala visual digital para avaliação da fadiga mental em adultos

Abstract

Background: with the development of increasingly multidisciplinary research in the last decades in the area of mental fatigue (MF), we can observe the importance of assessment FM in various fields. We live in a time when digital media, social media, and mobile apps have changed the way people communicate and, in a broader sense, have shaped new paradigms of interaction. Due to some existing limitations in the use of the visual analogue scale (VAS) for your use of large, a possible alternative to VAS is to be adapted to the digital format. Therefore, there is a need to develop a tool in which its use in research and clinical environment can be viable. Objective: perform the concurrent criterion validity of visual digital scale for assessment of mental fatigue in adults. Methods: methodological cross-sectional study with the aim of establishing the concurrent criterion validity of a visual digital scale for MF assessment (VDS-MF) compared with the visual analogue scale for MF assessment (VAS-MF). A total 117 participants of both sex participated in the study. At firts, the participants answered some information (sex, chronological age, body weight, height, number of children); the sample consisted mainly of women (61.5%, n= 72), individuals with a mean age of 30 (± 3) years, with a median body mass of 70 (62.5% - 81.0) percentiles) kilogram and mean height of 168 (± 16) centimeters. Then, a video was presented for anchoring (familiarization) that explanatory video, the firts assessment was carried out, where the firts scale to be used was randomized (VDS-MF or VAS-MF); after that, the same procedure was requested for the other scale. The determination of the validity of the VDS-MF using the VAS-MF as a criterion was established. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated from a linear regression and the Typical error of estimale in raw. In addition, the analysis was performed and the graphic representation of Bland-Altman was made available. Results: The validity of the VDS was considered “Nearly Perfect” (r = 0.99, p = 0.001). The Typical error of estimale in raw was 2.33 (CI95% 2.06; 2.67) a.u., The Bland-Altman plot features a mean differences are expected between VDS-MF and VAS-MF. Finally, the differences between VDS-MF and VAS-MF presented a homoscedastic pattern, with a low and non-significant association (r = 0.14, p = 0.14) established by Pearsin’s correlation. Conclusions: t the VDS-MF presented validity when compared to the VASMF for the assessment of mental fatigue in healthy adults. These results are relevant as they provide applicability for use of VAS-MF tool in digital form, which considering the advantagesof electronic data collection, enables its use in different scenario.