Purpose: To present the cross-cultural adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese language of the Pregnancy and Weight Gain Attitude Scale.
Methods: This scale was developed in order to verify whether attitude toward thinness affects weight gain during pregnancy and contains statements that express different attitudes of pregnant women regarding their own weight gain. The procedures were: translation, back translation, comprehension evaluation, preparation of a final version, application of the scale to 180 pregnant women (mean age=29.6, gestational age=25.7 weeks) and psychometric analysis.
Results: Satisfactory equivalence between the versions and satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.7) were detected. The exploratory factor analysis suggested four subscales with 51.4% total variance explained.
Conclusion: The scale proved to be valid and can be used in studies with pregnant women in Brazil to assess attitudes toward weight gain and to detect and prevent dysfunctional behaviors during pregnancy.