Cross-cultural Adaptation and Validity Evidence of the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) for Brazilian Portuguese

Braz J Psychiatry. 2023 Nov 23. doi: 10.47626/1516-4446-2023-3312. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the present study is to adapt and present validity evidence based on the internal structure of the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) for the Brazilian context.

Methods: A total of 2682 Brazilian adults from different regions of the country have taken part in this study. Confirmatory factor analyses and multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA) were performed to assess MWQ factor structure. McDonald's Omega (ω) was generated to provide reliability indexes.

Results: It was demonstrated an adequate factor structure of the MWQ for the Brazilian context, corroborating the original article's single-factor model and other adaptation studies. Further, the results demonstrated the reliability of the instrument for the Brazilian population (ω=0.88).

Conclusions: The MWQ is thus an adequate, reliable, and quickly applicable instrument for those whose aim is to measure deliberate and spontaneous MW in Brazil.

Keywords: Attention; mind-wandering; validation study.