[Validation of psychosocial scales for change in the consumption of fruits and vegetables].

The objective of this study was to translate, adapt, and test the psychometric properties of psychosocial scales on fruits and vegetable consumption. A multidimensional questionnaire based on constructs of Social Cognitive Theory and the Transtheoretical Model was administered to 717 university students. Validation procedures included conceptual, item, semantic, operational, measurement, and functional equivalence. Exploratory factor analysis and temporal stability were performed using SPSS (17.0). Small differences between the translated versions were observed, and a few adjustments were made. The explained variance ranged from 57.3% to 63.2%, and alpha values ranged from 0.77 to 0.88, showing good internal consistency. Average temporal stability was good, and all constructs correlated with the stages of behavior change (p < 0.05). All validation steps were satisfactory and deemed appropriate for application in the population.