Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Northwestern Dysphagia Patient Check Sheet to Brazilian Portuguese

Purpose: To present the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Brazilian version of the Northwestern Dysphagia Patient Check Sheet (NDPCS). Methods: The translation to Portuguese was performed by two Brazilian bilingual speech language pathologists, followed by a back translation conducted by a bilingual native speaker of the original language. Afterwards, the three versions were compared by a committee of three speech language pathologists. Initially, the final translated version of the NDPCS was applied with 35 volunteers aged between 62 and 92 years old (74.77 +/- 7.08), who had no dementia or complaints of swallowing disorder. After some adjustments, the instrument was applied with other 27 volunteers aged between 60 and 87 years old (76.56 +/- 7.07) with the same profile. Results: There was divergence in semantic equivalence in relation to one item, which was modified in the translated version. The tasks requested for observation during deglutition were adapted in relation to the solid food and the volumes used in pudding and liquid consistencies. The instrument maintained the same structure as the original version, with five categories and into 28 items, three brief variables, and four closures. Conclusion: The equivalence between the original and the translated version of the NDPCS was preserved after its translation and adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese. The validation process of the psychometric properties of the instrument is in progress.