Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium scale for the Portuguese language

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to translate the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium from English into Brazilian Portuguese and cross-culturally adapt it for use in Brazil. METHODS: Following the authorization granted by its main author, the processes of translation and cross-cultural adaptation were performed with regard to the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium in accordance with the following internationally recommended steps: translation of the original into Portuguese by two native speakers of the target language; synthesis of the translated versions; back-translation by two native speakers of the original language; review and harmonization of the back-translation; a review of the Portuguese version of the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium by an expert panel composed of specialists; pretesting including assessments of clarity, comprehensibility, and acceptability of the translated version using a sample of the target population; and finishing modifications to achieve the final version. RESULTS: The translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium followed international recommendations. The linguistic and semantic issues that emerged during the process were discussed by the expert panel, which unanimously agreed to slight modifications. During pretesting, the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium was administered to 30 eligible children, twice per day; the final version was easy to understand, could be completed quickly, and showed a high inter-rater correlation coefficient (0.955). CONCLUSIONS: The translation of the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium into Brazilian Portuguese and its cross-cultural adaptation were successful and preserved the linguistic and semantic properties of the original instrument. The Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium proved to be easy to understand and could be completed quickly. Additional studies are needed to test the validity and psychometric properties of this version in Brazil.