title: Translation and cultural adaptation of Health Utilities Index (HUI) Mark 2 (HUI2) and Mark 3 (HUI3) with application to survivors of childhood cancer in Brazil.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are few publications reporting health-related quality of life (HRQL) in developing nations. Most instruments measuring HRQL have been developed in English-speaking countries. These instruments need to be culturally adapted for use in non-English-speaking countries. The HUI2 and HUI3 are generic, preference-based systems for describing health status and HRQL. Developed in Canada, the systems have been translated into more than a dozen languages and used worldwide in hundreds of studies of clinical and general populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Brazilian-Portuguese translation of the HUI systems was supervised by senior HUInc staff having experience with both the HUI systems and translations. The process included two independent forward translations of the multi-attribute health status classification systems and related questionnaires, consensus between translators on a forward translation, back-translation by two independent translators of the forward translation, and review of the back-translations by original developers of the HUI. The final questionnaires were tested by surveying a sample of convenience of 50 patients recruited at the Centro de Tratamento e Pesquisa-Hospital do Cancer in São Paulo, Brazil.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty patients were enrolled in the study. No assessor, patient or nurse or physician, reported problems answering the HUI questionnaires. No significant differences were found in mean overall HUI2 or HUI3 utility scores among types of assessors. Variability in scores are similar to those from other studies in Latin America and Canada.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Test results provide preliminary evidence that the Brazilian-Portuguese translation is acceptable, understandable, reliable and valid for assessing health-status and HRQL among survivors of cancer in childhood in Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Tratamento e Pesquisa Hospital do Câncer, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimoda
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: de Camargo
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horsman
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Furlong
authors.forename: Luiz Fernando
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seber
authors.forename: Ronald D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Barr
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D014175:Translating