Transcultural adaptation process of the Griffiths‐III Mental Development Scale

Abstract

BackgroundThe Griffiths‐III Mental Development Scale (GMDS‐III) is used in the diagnosis of child development in several countries, presenting cross‐cultural adaptation of the original British version. In Brazil, there is a shortage of standardized and normalized diagnostic tools for the child population. The study describes the cross‐cultural adaptation of the GMDS‐III for the Brazilian reality.MethodEthical aspects were fulfilled (CAAE: 34802014.0.0000.5417). Six steps of the cross‐cultural adaptation process suggested by the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons Outcomes Committee were followed: two independent translations; synthesis translations and version T1‐2 preparation; T1‐2 version retrotranslation, blinded, by two natives of the origin language and fluent in the target language; expert committee review maintaining conceptual, idiomatic, semantic, and cultural equivalence, elaborating the pre‐final version; application of the pre‐final version, in Portuguese, for 96 Brazilian children; documentation submission to the original scale authors.ResultsFive hundred seventy‐one words/expressions translated and adapted from English to Brazilian Portuguese. No gross inconsistencies or conceptual error were found in the translation. The pre‐final version was applied to 72 children, distributed along the scale age range, with no absence of response for any item, making a satisfactory distribution of the skills assessed in the instrument. Original scale authors issued a certificate agreeing with the process.ConclusionsThe GMDS‐III was adapted transculturally to the Brazilian reality following a rigorous methodology. This work is an anchor for scale normalization with application in a representative sample of Brazilian children, as well as verification of psychometric properties in the Brazilian version. This was the first step towards the beginning of the transformation of the Brazilian children's scenario regarding the use of a standardized and normalized assessment instrument, providing an early and assertive diagnosis.

Tradução e adaptação transcultural do protocolo Kaufman Speech Praxis Test for Children (KSPT)

“…Entretanto, as equivalências semânticas, conceituais, idiomáticas e culturais foram mantidas na adaptação transcultural do manual de aplicação, enunciados da folha de registro e guia de teste clínico. Estudos apresentaram a importância destes quesitos (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) .…”

“…Não há controvérsia sobre a necessidade de pesquisas voltadas à padronização e normatização de instrumentos de avaliação em todo o mundo, ou quanto à adaptação e normatização de testes e escalas, utilizados, padronizados e validados em outros países, visto as diferenças culturais (3,9,12,13,15) .…”

“…A tradução, adaptação e normatização de instrumentos podem ser consideradas mais viáveis do que a elaboração de um instrumento completamente novo, uma vez que, possibilita a realização de estudos transculturais com a utilização dos mesmos instrumentos de avaliação que já foram validados anteriormente (12,15) . Estudos apresentaram que o KSPT é um dos instrumentos mais frequentemente utilizados em pesquisas internacionais com amostras infantis (3,5,6) .…”

“…A adaptação transcultural é um processo complexo que deve ser realizado de maneira rigorosa, seguindo uma metodologia específica, composta pela tradução do instrumento de maneira literal e adaptação, respeitando as equivalências conceituais, idiomáticas, semânticas e culturais (9)(10)(11)(12) . Este processo não exclui a necessidade de verificar a confiabilidade, a validade e a precisão do instrumento na nova língua (9,(12)(13)(14)(15) .…”

Instruments to assess children’s language and speech translated and adapted into Brazilian Portuguese: an integrative literature review

“…Although countries as the United States have a broad range of speech-language-hearing assessment instrument, listing more than 100 speech-language tests in the 2006 edition of the Directory of Speech-Language Pathology Assessment Instruments published by ASHA 2 , there is a different scenario in Brazil, where few formal instruments are available in Brazilian Portuguese indicated for assessment and diagnosis [3][4][5][6][7] . Translating assessment instruments from other languages has been one of the means to supply the need not only regarding diagnosis but also the definition of intervention plans 7,8 .…”