Cultural adaptation and validation of the KINDL questionnaire in Brazil for adolescents between 12 and 16 years of age.

OBJECTIVE Obtain a Portuguese version of the Kiddo-KINDL questionnaire that is semantic and culturally equivalent to the original version. METHODS For the adaptation, the methodology of direct and inverse translation was used. The questionnaire was applied to groups from three schools in Uberlândia, MG - Brazil, and comprised of 378 children and adolescents aged between 12 and 16. 16% of the students were randomly selected to repeat the test. In the statistical analysis, the following aspects were appraised and analyzed such as: lost data, floor and ceiling effect, internal consistence of the item and reliability of the internal consistence of the scales. RESULTS The percentage of lost data in the scales was low varying between 1.6% to 2.57%, which indicates good acceptability of the questionnaire. The rates of floor and ceiling effect were lower than 12% suggesting that the instrument is sensitive to detect differences in quality of life related to the health of the children and adolescents ranked within the extreme ends. The Kiddo-KINDL as a whole has shown high reliability (Alpha Cronbach = 0.79). CONCLUSION The Kiddo-KINDL is a reliable tool to be used with children and adolescents in Brazil, and has provided important data of multidimensional nature.