Cross-cultural adaptation of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale for Brazilian Portuguese
Open accessAbstract
Abstract Introduction: The internet has proven to be a valuable resource for self-care, allowing access to information and promoting interaction between professionals, caregivers, users of health care services and people interested in health information. However, recurring searches are often related to excessive health anxiety and a phenomenon known as cyberchondria can have impacts on physical and mental health. Within this background, a Cyberchondria Severity Scale has been developed to differentiate healthy and unhealthy behavior in internet searches for health information, based on the following criteria: compulsion, distress, excesses, and trust and distrust of health professionals. Objective: To conduct cross-cultural adaptation of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale for Brazilian Portuguese, because of the lack of an appropriate instrument for Brazil. Methods: This study was authorized by the original author of the scale. The process was divided into the following four steps: 1) initial translation, 2) back-translation, 3) development of a synthesized version, and 4) experimental application. Results: Translation into Brazilian Portuguese required some idiomatic expressions to be adapted. In some cases, words were not literally translated from English into Portuguese. Only items 7, 8, 12, 23 and 27 were altered, as a means of both conforming to proper grammar conventions and achieving easy comprehension. The items were rewritten without loss of the original content. Conclusion: This paper presents a translated version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale that has been semantically adapted for the Brazilian population, providing a basis for future studies in this area, which should in turn contribute to improved understanding of the cyberchondria phenomenon in this population.
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There is as yet no consensus on the definition of cyberchondria.
“Although the phenomenology of CYB has been described, there is as yet no consensus on the definition of CYB [61].”
From Is cyberchondria a new transdiagnostic digital compulsive syndrome? A systematic review of the evidence (2020) · cites this paper as [61]
The Conclusion says distinguishing normal health-related searching from compulsive behavior remains a major challenge, which supports uncertainty about cyberchondria’s boundaries. The Introduction gives a definition, but neither passage says researchers lack consensus on that definition. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe published literature addressing the complex relationship between cyberchondria, health anxiety and hypochondriasis often lacks coherence.
“However, the published literature addressing the complex relationship between CYB, health anxiety and hypochondriasis often lacks coherence [18,61].”
From Is cyberchondria a new transdiagnostic digital compulsive syndrome? A systematic review of the evidence (2020) · cites this paper as [61]
The Introduction (page unavailable) describes cyberchondria as related to health anxiety and hypochondria and says research is limited. It does not say that the published literature on their relationship often lacks coherence; limited research is not the same as incoherent literature. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSeveral other reports have proposed a cognitive-behavioural approach to managing cyberchondria.
“Several other reports have proposed a cognitive-behavioural approach to managing CYB [18,50,61].”
From Is cyberchondria a new transdiagnostic digital compulsive syndrome? A systematic review of the evidence (2020) · cites this paper as [61]
The Introduction describes cyberchondria and its relationship to health anxiety, while the Cyberchondria Severity Scale section concerns measurement. Neither proposes a cognitive-behavioural approach to managing it. Searches for cognitive-behavioural treatment and management found no passage addressing that claim; page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.77)
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References 12 · Cited by 19
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Starcevic V, Berle D. Cyberchondria: towards a better understanding of excessive health-related Internet use. Expert Rev Neurother. 2013;13:205-13.
- Henderson EM, Keogh E, Eccleston C. Why go online when you have pain? A qualitative analysis of teenagers' use of the Internet for pain management advice. Child Care Health Dev. 2014;40:572-9.
- White RW, Horvitz E. Cyberchondria: studies of the escalation of medical concerns in web search. ACM Trans Manag Inf Syst. 2009;27:23.
- Lewis T. Seeking health information on the Internet: lifestyle choice or bad attack of cyberchondria? Media Cult Soc. 2006;28:521-39.
- Fergus TA. Cyberchondria and intolerance of uncertainty: examining when Individuals experience health anxiety in response to Internet searches for medical information. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2013;16:735-9.
- Harding KJ, Skritskaya N, Doherty E, Fallon BA. Advances in understanding illness anxiety. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2008;10:311- 7.
- McElroy E, Shevlin M. The development and initial validation of the cyberchondria severity scale (CSS). J Anxiety Disord. 2014;28:259-65.
- Authors
- Silva, F. G. D., Andrade, R., Silva, I., & Cardoso, A.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- Estácio (Brazil) (BR)
- Venue
- Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
- Publisher
- FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
- Published
- 2016-06
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 90-95
- ISSN
- 2237-6089 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2467950845
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 1.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Redalyc (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- cyberchondria, Cyberchondria Severity Scale, cross-cultural adaptation, Brazilian Portuguese translation, health anxiety, online health information seeking, psychometric validation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Attitude to Health, Brazil, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Female, Humans, Hypochondriasis, Male, Middle Aged, Obsessive Behavior, Psychometrics, Severity of Illness Index, Stress, Psychological, Translating, Translations, Internet, Trust, Young Adult
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