Surreal illustration of a child surrounded by anxieties.

Is Your Child Anxious? A Guide to the SCAS-Brasil

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Avery Sinclair in Mind & Education August 2025 • 5 min read.

"Understanding and Addressing Childhood Anxiety in Brazil: How a culturally adapted anxiety scale can help."


Anxiety disorders are increasingly recognized as common mental health challenges among children and adolescents globally, with prevalence rates ranging significantly. These disorders can significantly disrupt a child's daily life, impacting their social interactions, academic performance, and overall well-being. Untreated childhood anxiety can also lead to long-term difficulties, including increased risks of depression, substance abuse, and even suicidal tendencies in adulthood.

Given the critical need to identify and address anxiety early in life, reliable and culturally appropriate assessment tools are essential. Questionnaires and scales that allow children to self-report their experiences are valuable, as they capture the child's unique perspective on their symptoms. However, it’s crucial that these tools are carefully adapted and validated for different cultural contexts to ensure they accurately measure anxiety across diverse populations.

The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) has emerged as a widely used instrument for assessing anxiety symptoms in children. Originally developed to align with the diagnostic criteria for childhood anxiety disorders, the SCAS has been adapted for use in various countries and languages. This article focuses on the Brazilian Portuguese version of the SCAS (SCAS-Brasil), detailing its development, adaptation process, and potential applications for assessing and addressing childhood anxiety in Brazil.

Adapting the SCAS for Brazil: A Step-by-Step Approach

Surreal illustration of a child surrounded by anxieties.

The cross-cultural adaptation of the SCAS for use in Brazil followed a rigorous, multi-stage process to ensure its accuracy and relevance. This process, based on established guidelines for adapting psychological instruments, focused on maintaining equivalence between the original English version and the Brazilian Portuguese version. The adaptation process included:

Investigation of conceptual and item equivalence was carried out through a comprehensive literature review, focusing on existing research on childhood anxiety in Brazil and available assessment tools. This step aimed to ensure that the underlying concepts of the SCAS, and the specific items used to measure anxiety, were relevant and understandable within the Brazilian context.

  • Translation and Back-Translation: The SCAS was translated from English to Brazilian Portuguese and then back-translated to English by independent translators. This iterative process helped identify and resolve any discrepancies or ambiguities in the translated items.
  • Pretesting: The translated SCAS was pretested with a sample of Brazilian children and their parents to assess their understanding of the items and identify any potential issues with clarity or interpretation.
  • Investigation of Operational Equivalence: Researchers examined the practical aspects of using the SCAS in Brazil, including the instructions, administration methods, and questionnaire format. They compared these elements to existing instruments used to assess childhood anxiety in Brazil to ensure compatibility and ease of use.
Through this process, the research team identified and addressed specific cultural nuances that might affect the interpretation of certain SCAS items in Brazil. For example, they modified a question about school attendance to account for variations in school schedules. They ensured that the language used in the SCAS-Brasil was appropriate for Brazilian children and families from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

The SCAS-Brasil: A Valuable Tool for Assessing Childhood Anxiety

The SCAS-Brasil represents a significant step forward in the assessment and understanding of childhood anxiety in Brazil. By adapting and validating the SCAS for the Brazilian context, researchers have provided clinicians, educators, and researchers with a culturally sensitive tool for identifying and addressing anxiety symptoms in children.

The SCAS-Brasil offers several potential applications. It can be used as a screening tool in community settings to identify children who may be at risk for developing anxiety disorders, allowing for early intervention and support. It can also be used in schools to assess the frequency, severity, and structure of anxiety symptoms among students. Furthermore, the SCAS-Brasil can be used in clinical settings as part of a comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic evaluation, helping to inform treatment planning and monitor progress.

While the SCAS-Brasil shows promise as a valuable assessment tool, further research is needed to establish its psychometric properties in Brazilian samples and to explore its effectiveness in different clinical and educational settings. By continuing to refine and validate the SCAS-Brasil, we can improve our ability to identify and support children struggling with anxiety, promoting their mental health and well-being.

About this Article -

This article was crafted using a human-AI hybrid and collaborative approach. AI assisted our team with initial drafting, research insights, identifying key questions, and image generation. Our human editors guided topic selection, defined the angle, structured the content, ensured factual accuracy and relevance, refined the tone, and conducted thorough editing to deliver helpful, high-quality information.See our About page for more information.

This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: 10.1590/s2237-60892012000300006, Alternate LINK

Title: Brazilian Portuguese Version Of The Spence Children'S Anxiety Scale (Scas-Brasil)

Subject: Psychiatry and Mental health

Journal: Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Publisher: FapUNIFESP (SciELO)

Authors: Diogo A. Desousa, Circe S. Petersen, Rafaela Behs, Gisele G. Manfro, Silvia H. Koller

Published: 2012-09-01

Everything You Need To Know

1

What exactly is the SCAS-Brasil and why is it important?

The SCAS-Brasil is a specifically adapted version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) for use in Brazil. It's designed to assess anxiety symptoms in children, providing a culturally sensitive tool for clinicians, educators, and researchers. This is important because childhood anxiety is a significant mental health challenge, and early identification is crucial for effective intervention. The SCAS-Brasil allows for a more accurate assessment of anxiety in Brazilian children by considering their cultural context.

2

Why is it important to address childhood anxiety, and how does the SCAS-Brasil help?

Childhood anxiety disorders are common mental health issues globally, with potential long-term implications. Untreated anxiety can lead to difficulties such as depression, substance abuse, and suicidal tendencies in adulthood. The SCAS-Brasil helps to address these concerns by providing a reliable tool to identify anxiety early on, facilitating timely interventions. The SCAS-Brasil contributes to better mental health outcomes for children in Brazil.

3

How was the SCAS-Brasil specifically adapted for use in Brazil?

The SCAS-Brasil was developed through a rigorous, multi-stage process of cross-cultural adaptation. This process included investigation of conceptual and item equivalence to ensure the concepts and items were relevant. It also included translation, back-translation, pretesting with Brazilian children and parents, and investigation of operational equivalence. Each step was vital to ensure that the SCAS-Brasil accurately assesses anxiety in Brazilian children. The adaptations made address cultural nuances.

4

What is the relationship between the SCAS and the SCAS-Brasil?

The SCAS (Spence Children's Anxiety Scale) is a widely used instrument for assessing anxiety symptoms in children. It serves as the foundation for the SCAS-Brasil. The SCAS was originally developed to align with diagnostic criteria for childhood anxiety disorders. The SCAS-Brasil ensures that assessment methods are culturally appropriate by using a specific, adapted version of the SCAS, which helps capture the unique experiences of Brazilian children.

5

What specific steps were taken to ensure the SCAS-Brasil is effective?

The SCAS-Brasil's development included investigation of conceptual and item equivalence, translation and back-translation, pretesting, and investigation of operational equivalence. Each stage ensured that the SCAS-Brasil accurately measures anxiety symptoms in Brazilian children and is easy to use. The SCAS-Brasil's thorough development allows for a culturally sensitive instrument to support children, clinicians, educators, and researchers in Brazil.

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