Cultural adaptation of an instrument to assess physical fitness in cardiac patients.

OBJECTIVE To validate the content and to evaluate the reliability of the Veterans Specific Activity Questionnaire instrument, culturally adapted for use in the Brazilian population of cardiac patients. METHODS The instrument was translated and back-translated and subsequently analyzed by a committee of judges to evaluate its semantic-idiomatic and cultural equivalences. Physical activities were replaced when indicated in the instrument, but uncommon in the daily life of the target population. Another committee of specialists analyzed the metabolic equivalence of replaced activities. The proportion of agreement of evaluation of the judges was quantified by the Content Validity Index. The pre-test was performed in two stages (n1 and n2=15). Reliability was assessed using the test-retest (interval of 7-15 days, n = 50). RESULTS In the evaluation of semantic-idiomatic and cultural equivalences, items with a Content Validity Index < 1 were reviewed until consensus among the judges was obtained. The second committee found 100% of agreement in the analysis of metabolic equivalence between original and replaced activities. Test-retest analysis indicated a Kappa coefficient of agreement (k = 0.86; (p<0.001), suggesting temporal stability of the instrument. CONCLUSIONS The Brazilian version of the Veterans Specific Activity Questionnaire showed evidence of reliability, according to the temporal stability criterion and adequate cultural content.