Cultural adaptation and reproducibility of the Breathing Problems Questionnaire for use in patients with COPD in Brazil.
OBJECTIVE
To translate the Breathing Problems Questionnaire (BPQ) into Portuguese and adapt it to the Brazilian culture, as well as to evaluate its reproducibility in patients with COPD.


METHODS
After the BPQ had been translated and adapted to the Brazilian culture, it was administered to a subgroup of 8 patients in order to identify their uncertainties and difficulties. The questionnaire was reviewed by an expert committee, and its final version was arrived at. A second translator back-translated the final version into English, which was sent to the original author in order to verify that the original meaning of the questionnaire had been maintained. After the approval of the original author, the final Portuguese-language version of the questionnaire was administered to 50 patients with COPD, in order to evaluate its reproducibility.


RESULTS
The mean response time was 9.5 min. Of the 50 patients, 21 were female and 29 were male. The mean age was 65.8 ± 7.5 years. Most of the patients were classified as having moderate COPD (29.16%) or severe COPD (52%). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the total score was 0.94. The ICCs for the eleven BPQ domains and its two subscales were also above 0.70. Moderate correlations were found between the BPQ domains and subscales.


CONCLUSIONS
The translation and cultural adaptation of the BPQ for use in Brazil was deemed appropriate, because the patients could easily understand and answer the questions. In addition, the Brazilian version of the BPQ questionnaire was found to be reliable, showing good reproducibility.
Centro de Estudos Superiores de Maceió – CESMAC, Maceió Center for Higher Education – Maceió, Brazil.
Patrícia Nobre Calheiros da
PN
Silva
José Roberto
JR
Jardim
George Márcio da
GM
Costa e Souza
Michael E
ME
Hyland
Oliver Augusto
OA
Nascimento
D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012120:Respiration Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014177:Translations