Cultural adaptation and psychometric properties of Brazilian Need for Recovery Scale

• Published in: Revista de saúde pública Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 131 - 139
• Main Authors: Moriguchi, Cristiane Shinohara, Alem, Michele Elisabete Rubio, van Veldhoven, Marc, Coury, Helenice Jane Cote Gil
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo 01-02-2010
• Subjects: Adult; Brazil; Cultural Characteristics; Fatigue - diagnosis; Female; Health Policy & Services; Humans; Industry; Language; Male; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; Translating; Work Capacity Evaluation; Brazil; Reproducibility of Results; Fadiga; Reprodutibilidade dos Testes; Working Conditions; Fatigue; diagnosis; Questionários; Condições de Trabalho; Validade dos Testes; Validity of Tests; Questionnaires; diagnóstico; Translations; Tradução (Produto)
• ISSN: 0034-8910; 1518-8787; 1518-8787; 0034-8910
• DOI: 10.1590/S0034-89102010000100014

To translate the Need for Recovery Scale (NFR) into Brazilian Portuguese and culturally adapt it and assess the stability, internal consistency and convergent validity of the Brazilian scale among industrial workers.
The translation process followed the guidelines for cultural adaptation of questionnaires including the steps of translation, synthesis, back translation, expert committee review, and pre-testing. The Brazilian Portuguese NFR, final version (Br-NFR) was assessed for stability (n=52) and internal consistency (n=192) and for convergent validity through simultaneous assessment with other instruments: the Borg Scale (n=59); the Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (n=57) and 3 subscales of the SF-36 (n=56).
Stability and internal consistency met the criterion for a reliable measure (ICC=0.80 and Cronbach's alpha =0.87, respectively). The convergent validity between Br-NFR and other instruments also showed good results: Borg Scale (r= 0.64); Chalder Questionnaire (r= 0.67); SF-36 subscales: vitality (r= -0.84), physical functioning (r= -0.54), and role-physical (r= -0.47).
The Br-NFR proved to be a reliable instrument to evaluate work-related fatigue symptoms in industrial workers. Furthermore, it showed significant and good correlations with well-established instruments such as the Borg Scale, the Chalder Questionnaire and SF-36 vitality subscale, supporting the validity of the Br-NFR.