Portuguese Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire - validation and cross-cultural comparison.

OBJECTIVE To validate the Portuguese version of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ-PT) and compare it to the versions from other countries. METHODS The questionnaire was previously adapted to the Portuguese language according to international guidelines. 500 questionnaires were delivered to the parents of a Portuguese community sample of children aged 2 to 10 years old. 370 (74%) valid questionnaires were obtained, 55 children met exclusion criteria and 315 entered in the validation study. RESULTS The CSHQ-PT internal consistency (Cronbach's α) was 0.78 for the total scale and ranged from 0.44 to 0.74 for subscales. The test-retest reliability for subscales (Pearson's correlations, n=58) ranged from 0.59 to 0.85. Our data did not adjust to the original 8 domains structure in Confirmatory Factor Analysis but the Exploratory Factor Analysis extracted 5 factors that have correspondence to CSHQ subscales. CONCLUSION The CSHQ-PT evidenced psychometric properties that are comparable to the versions from other countries and adequate for the screening of sleep disturbances in children from 2 to 10 years old.