From Brazil to Canada: Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of an App for Breastfeeding Premature Babies

Abstract

Objective: Translating and culturally adapting the AmamentaCoach app, originally developed in Brazil, for use by mothers of premature babies in Canada, through international research collaboration. Method: This is applied research in the form of technological development, in which the World Health Organization's recommendations for the translation and cultural adaptation of instruments were taken into account. Five Canadian researchers who are experts in breastfeeding promotion evaluated the appearance, language, and content of the new version of the app. An 18-item instrument was used with Likert scale response options indicating the degree of agreement for each statement, where 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree, and 5=Strongly Agree. Results: In the first round of evaluation, the total Content Validity Index (CVI-T) was 0.72, and 6 of the 18 items did not reach CVI-I ≥0.8. A total of 59 screens (74%) of the app were modified, especially in terms of language and the quality of the translation of the texts, reaching CVI-T=0.87 in the second round. Conclusion: The Breastfeeding Coach app showed expressions adjusted to Canadian reality, meaningful images, and new auxiliary resources specific to Canada. Changes in content and attenuations in the rhetorical textual pattern, prompted by cultural differences in the nurse-client relationship and the woman's role in these two different societies, sought consistency with the reality of breastfeeding practices in Canada.