Cross-cultural adaptation of the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire for brazilian children

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is considered a major health problem among school-aged children worldwide. Although there are several instruments to identify children with DCD, none of them are translated into Portuguese and validated to be used in Brazil. OBJECTIVES: Considering that a parent questionnaire is a simple and effective method to screen children with DCD, this study describes the adaptation of the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) and the pilot testing with Brazilian children. METHODS:Translation of the DCDQ into Portuguese was conducted according to current guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of instruments. The questionnaire was completed by parents of 15 children with motor coordination problems and parents of 30 children who were typically developing, matched for age. Five parents randomly selected from each group completed the questionnaire twice, to examine test-retest reliability. The parent's opinion regarding the quality of the questionnaire was recorded. RESULTS: 91% of Brazilian parents reported no difficulty in completing the DCDQ. Examination of psychometric properties revealed that two items had limitations due to cultural differences. After item substitution, sensitivity increased from 0.66 to 0.73 and test-retest reliability from 0.95 to 0.97. Internal consistency also increased from 0.91 to 0.92. CONCLUSIONS:The translated instrument shows potential as a screening tool for children in Brazil and should be further examined. Research with a larger sample is needed in order to define cut-off scores and verify the instrument's validity and clinical utility. The use of the DCDQ will allow the comparison of epidemiological data from different countries.