title: Translation, cultural adaptation to Brazil and validation of the Venous leg ulcer quality of life questionnaire (VLU-QoL-Br).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Translating the Venous leg ulcer quality of life questionnaire (VLU-QoL), and culturally adapting it to Brazilian Portuguese and validate it with patients at the Hospital das Clínicas of the Botucatu Medical School - Unesp.
  
  
  METHODS
  The questionnaire was translated by a professional translator and two dermatologists specialized in the area of venous ulcers (VU), reformulated in a meeting of the three translators. The construct (VLU-QoL-Br) was submitted to pre-interviews with ten VU patients for adaptation of the language. Subsequently, it was applied to patients at the HC-Unesp, and for test-retest reliability for verification of its reproducibility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  82 patients were evaluated, with 56 (68%) women. The age average was 67.3 years. The questionnaire was translated, adapted and applied to the patients. The construct presented high internal consistency (alpha = 0.94) and adequate item-total correlation. When the 32 retests were evaluated, an intra-class correlation was noted for concordance of 0.78 (p<0.01), indicating good reproducibility of the construct. The confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the dimensions of the original questionnaire: activities, psychologies, and symptoms. VLU-QoL-Br scores were associated, independently, to the total area of the ulcers and a lower education level of the subjects (p<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The translation, adaptation and validation of the VLU-QoL-Br questionnaire were concluded, demonstrating good psychometric performance, and enabling its clinical use in Brazil. It is important to evaluate its performance in other regions and different samples of individuals.
authors.affiliation: FMB, Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renata Boldrin de
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, FMB, Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Rita Parise
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Fortes
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, FMB, Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana Patrícia Fernandes
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Abbade
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, FMB, Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hélio Amante
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Miot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil / Q000208:ethnology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007871:Leg Ulcer; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D014177:Translations; D014689:Venous Insufficiency