RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To assess the psychometric properties of the PAM13 Brazilian-Portuguese (PAM13-B) among outpatients with chronic diseases. METHODS: 513 adults participated, diagnosed with a chronic disease for more than 6 months, under outpatient monitoring. Reliability was tested using internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Construct validity was verified through different techniques (correlation between activation and self-esteem measures, anxiety, depression and health status), known-groups validity and dimensionality by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS: The PAM13-B presented appropriate results for internal consistency (α = 0.83) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.81). A moderate correlation was found between activation and self-esteem only (r = 0.43, p < 0.001). The one-dimensional structure was not confirmed in the sample analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: In the study sample, the version PAM13-B demonstrated its reliability and validity, but with a two-factor structure.