Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Brazilian Portuguese Version of the Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment Questionnaire

Abstract

A reliable and valid Brazilian Portuguese version of the SMFA was developed. It will facilitate the examination of functional performance within a large patient population as well as allow cross-cultural comparisons.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Dutch Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment questionnaire (SMFA-NL): Internal consistency, validity, repeatability and responsiveness

“…7 The internal consistency coefficients for the conventional subscales of the SMFA were high: Cronbach's alpha of 0.87 and 0.96 respectively for the dysfunction index and the bother index. These results are comparable with those found by Swiontkowski et al 7 in the initial validation of the SMFA, and with those found in the validation of the Brazilian, 13 Mexican, 12 Swedish 10 and German 11,27 version of the SMFA. We performed a factor analysis to determine whether the SMFA-NL also consisted of two parts, but identified a four-factor structure: (1) lower-extremity dysfunction, (2) upper-extremity dysfunction, (3) problems with daily activities, and (4) mental and emotional problems.…”

“…Internal consistency of these subscales was proven. Only Guevara et al 12 and Taylor et al 13 who assessed the validity of the Mexican and Brazilian versions of the SMFA respectively, have performed a factor analysis. They both found a three-factor solution to be the most interpretable.…”

“…They both found a three-factor solution to be the most interpretable. 12,13 However, five items of the Mexican version failed to load on one of the three factors, so the authors recommended that these items of the questionnaire be dropped. 12 Eight items of the Brazilian version of the SMFA did not clearly load into this three-factor solution, and these items were also dropped.…”

“…12 Eight items of the Brazilian version of the SMFA did not clearly load into this three-factor solution, and these items were also dropped. 13 By dropping these items, both the Mexican and Brazilian versions of the SMFA can no longer be compared with the original version or with versions in other languages which contain all items. In the present study, all items loaded on one of the four identified subscales.…”

“…It is now recognised that if questionnaires are to be used across cultures, they must not only be translated well, linguistically speaking, but also be adapted culturally to maintain the content validity of the instrument. 9 There are several non-English versions of the SMFA available that are cross-culturally adapted, [10][11][12][13] but, to our knowledge there is no Dutch-language version of the SMFA. The purpose of this study was therefore to translate and culturally adapt the SMFA into Dutch and to evaluate the clinimetric properties of the Dutch version in terms of internal consistency, validity, repeatability and responsiveness.…”