Translation and transcultural adaptation of Pain Quality Assessment Scale (PQAS) to brazilian version

Abstract

IntroductionMost cancer patients are treated with chemotherapy, and peripheral neuropathy is a serious and common clinical problem affecting patients undergoing cancer treatment. However, the symptoms are subjective and underdiagnosed by health professionals. Thus, it becomes necessary to develop self-report instruments to overcome this limitation and improve the patient's perception about his medical condition or treatment. ObjectiveTranslate and culturally adapt the Brazilian version of the Pain Quality Assessment Scale, constituting a useful tool for assessing the quality of neuropathic pain in cancer patients. MethodThe procedure followed the steps of translation, back translation, analysis of Portuguese and English versions by a committee of judges, and pretest. Pretest was conducted with 30 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy following internationally recommended standards, and the final versions were compared and evaluated by a committee of researchers from Brazil and MAPI Research Trust, the scale's creators. ResultsVersions one and two showed 100% semantic equivalence with the original version. Back-translation showed difference between the linguistic translation and the original version. After evaluation by the committee of judges, a flaw was found in the empirical equivalence and idiomatic equivalence. In pretest, two people did not understand the item 12 of the scale, without interfering in the final elaboration. ConclusionThe translated and culturally adapted instrument is now presented in this publication, and currently it is in the process of clinical validation in Brazil.