Semantic equivalence of an instrument to assess mothers/caregivers beliefs about early childhood caries

Abstract

The knowledge and beliefs can affect the behavior of parents about preventive oral care of their children. Aim: This study aimed to perform the semantic equivalence of an instrument that assesses beliefs, knowledge, behaviors and barriers to oral care of mothers/caregivers about early childhood caries in their children aged 0 to 5 years between the original English version and the Brazilian Portuguese language version. Methods: Conceptual and item equivalence were initially performed. Following, semantic equivalence was evaluated according to the following steps: (1) translations of the instrument into Brazilian Portuguese, performed by two independent translators (both native in Brazilian Portuguese and fluent in English); (2) unification of the two translations by an expert committee; (3) two back-translations performed by two independent translators (both native in English and fluent in Brazilian Portuguese); (4) unification of the two back-translations by an expert committee; (5) unified back-translated version sent to the authors of the original instrument for evaluation; (6) committee review; (7) pre-test in a group of 20 Brazilian mothers/caregivers of children aged 0 to 5 years; (8) review and final version of the instrument in Brazilian Portuguese. Results: All items adequately reflected the Brazilian culture. Small divergences were found during translations and back-translations, and the expert committee chose the versions that would best fit into Brazilian culture. Pre-test also brought important insights to the process. All changes made were presented and approved by the original authors. Conclusion: The semantic equivalence allowed the development of a Brazilian Portuguese version of the instrument semantically equivalent to the original version.