Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Need For Recovery scale (NFR) is a tool that allows early identification of work-related health risks. However, the structure of the Brazilian version of NFR scale (Br-NFR) which contains 11 items has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the structural validity, criterion validity, and internal consistency of the Br-NFR scale in workers. METHODS: 672 workers were included in this study. A split-half validation method was applied to the sample to create a development and validation sample. The structure of the Br-NFR was examined through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using the development sample. The validation sample was used to evaluate the structure with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). For the latter, several goodness-of-fit indices were considered to evaluate the model fit of the structures tested in this study. Criterion validity was assessed between the Brazilian structure and structures found in the literature compared with the original scale through intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC(2,1)). The internal consistency of the Br-NFR was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Both analyses used the validation sample. RESULTS: The EFA showed that the scale has a one-factor structure and the CFA demonstrated that the Br-NFR structure with 7 items presented excellent to acceptable goodness-of-fit indices. Excellent values of ICC were found between the structures tested in the study and the original 11-item structure of the NFR. The Br-NFR scale presented good internal consistency. CONCLUSION: The Br-NFR is unidimensional. The final 7-item version presented to be equivalent to the original 11-item scale and also has good internal consistency.