Adaptation of the Communities That Care Youth Survey for use in Brazil: A pilot study

Substance use and violence are serious problems affecting Brazilian youth, prompting local authorities to invest in adapting and implementing evidence-based prevention programs developed abroad. To ensure that interventions are effective, valid and reliable measures of risk factors for substance use and violence are needed. We conducted a pilot examination of the measurement properties of risk factors in the Communities That Care Youth Survey (CTCYS), a school-based survey developed in the United States. The Brazilian-adapted CTCYS included 25 risk factors as well as measures of substance use and antisocial behaviors. The survey was translated into Brazilian Portuguese and adapted for use in Brazil, incorporating suggestions from local experts. The survey was administered to 926 students in one Brazilian community. Results indicate that scale internal consistency was acceptable for all but two scales: (i) Academic Failure and (ii) Rebelliousness. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested good model fit for most measurement models albeit with minor modifications for most scales. Findings from this pilot study provide a foundation for the use of the CTCYS in Brazil to assess community levels of adolescent risk and evaluate prevention programs.