CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND VALIDATION OF THE LOW ENERGY AVAILABILITY IN FEMALES QUESTIONNAIRE (LEAF-Q)

Introduction: Low energy availability, amenorrhea and osteoporosis make up the Female Athlete Triad observed in physically active females and athletes. The Low Energy Availability in Females Questionnaire (LEAF-Q) was created with the purpose of identifying female athletes at risk for the Female Athlete Triad. Objective: To translate and culturally adapt the LEAF-Q for Brazilian Portuguese and validate it in a group of Brazilian athletes. Methods: The first stage of the study consisted of translation, cultural adaptation and content validation of the questionnaire in 20 athletes. In the second stage, for the test-retest reliability analysis and the construct validation, the final adapted version was applied in a sample of 127 athletes from various sports disciplines, 54 of whom responded to the questionnaire on a second occasion. For the test-retest reliability analysis, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated and the paired t-test, McNemar's test and Bland-Altman plot were carried out. The construct validation modeled by known or contrasted groups was carried out by comparing the mean LEAF-Q scores of group 1 (athletes who practiced weight-sensitive sports) with those of group 2 (athletes who practiced team sports) using the Student's t test. Results: The Brazilian version of the LEAF-Q showed excellent test-retest reliability, with an ICC of 0.92. The construct validity by known or contrasted groups was confirmed after demonstrating that athletes who practiced weight-sensitive sports had a higher LEAF-Q mean score than athletes who practiced team sports (p=0.05). Conclusion: The Brazilian version of the LEAF-Q is an important tool, which presented textual and cultural adequacy, proved to be reliable in terms of test-retest reliability, and presents evidence of validity to investigate the risk of the triad.