Cross-cultural adaptation of the self-care of hypertension inventory into Brazilian Portuguese

Background: Lifestyle changes and treatment adherence still constitute a challenge to healthcare providers involved in the care of persons with hypertension. The lack of validated instruments measuring the ability of hypertensive patients to manage their disease has slowed research progress in this area. The Self-care of Hypertension Inventory, originally developed in the United States, consists of 23 items divided across 3 scales: Self-care Maintenance, Self-care Management, and Self-care Confidence. These scales measure how well patients with hypertension adhere to treatment and manage elevated blood pressure, as well as their confidence in their ability to perform self-care. A rigorous cross-cultural adaptation and validation process is required before this instrument can be used in other countries. Objective: The aims of this study were to translate the Self-care of Hypertension Inventory into Brazilian Portuguese with cross-cultural adaptation and to evaluate interobserver reliability and temporal stability. Methods: This methodological study involved forward translation, synthesis of forward translations, back-translation, synthesis of back-translations, expert committee review, and pretesting. Interobserver agreement and the temporal stability of the scales were assessed. Results: The expert committee proposed semantic and cultural modifications to some items and the addition of guidance statements to facilitate administration of the scale. Interobserver analysis demonstrated substantial agreement. Analysis of temporal stability showed near-perfect agreement. Conclusions: Cross-cultural adaptation of the Self-care of Hypertension Inventory successfully produced a Portuguese-language version of the instrument for further evaluation of psychometric properties. Once that step is completed, the scale can be used in Brazil.