title: Adaptation of the Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE) scale to the Brazilian social and cultural context.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A significant gap between the number of individuals who need mental health care and the ones who actually have access to it has been consistently demonstrated in studies conducted in different countries. Recognizing the barriers to care and their contributions to delaying or preventing access to mental health services is a key step to improve the management of mental health care. The Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE) scale is a 30-item self-report instrument conceived to evaluate obstacles to proper mental health care. The main constraint in the investigation of these barriers in Brazil is the lack of a reliable instrument to be used in the Brazilian social and cultural context.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the translation and adaptation process of the BACE scale to the Brazilian social and cultural context.
  
  
  METHODS
  The translation and adaptation process comprised the following steps: 1) translation from English to Brazilian Portuguese by two authors who are Brazilian Portuguese native speakers, one of whom is a psychiatrist; 2) evaluation, comparison and matching of the two preliminary versions by an expert committee; 3) back-translation to English by a sworn translator who is an English native speaker; 4) correction of the back-translated version by the authors of the original scale; 5) modifications and final adjustment of the Brazilian Portuguese version.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The processes of translation and adaptation described in this study were performed by the authors and resulted in the Brazilian version of a scale to evaluate barriers to access to mental health care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paula Freitas Ramalho da
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ary
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gadelha
authors.affiliation: Health Services and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK, UK.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clement
authors.affiliation: Health Services and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK, UK.
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thornicroft
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, UNIFESP, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jair de Jesus
authors.initials: Jde J
authors.lastname: Mari
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brietzke