TranslaTion, culTural adapTaTion To Brazil and validaTion of The venous leg ulcer qualiTy of life quesTionnaire (vlu-qol-Br) rev assoc Med Bras 2014; 60(3):249-254 249 Original article Translation, cultural adaptation to Brazil and validation of the venous leg ulcer quality of life questionnaire (VLU-QoL-Br) Renata BoldRin de aRaújo1, MaRia Rita PaRise FoRtes2, luciana PatRícia FeRnandes aBBade3, Hélio aMante Miot4* 1 Medical student at the FMB-Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil 2 Biologist at the Dermatology Department of the FMB-Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil 3 assistance professor and doctor at the Dermatology Department of the FMB-Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil 4 assistance professor and doctor at the Dermatology Department of the FMB-Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil Summary Study conducted by the Dermatology and radiotherapy Department of the FMB-Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil Article received: 2/6/13 Accepted for publication: 1/13/14 *Correspondence: Departamento de Dermatologia e radioterapia da FMB-Unesp S/n, address: campus Universitário de rubião Jr., Botucatu, SP - Brazil ZiP code: 18.618-000 Phone / Fax: +55 14 3882-4922 heliomiot@fmb.unesp.br http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.60.03.014 Conflict of interest: none Objective: translating the Venous leg ulcer quality of life questionnaire (VLU-QoL), and culturally adapting it to Brazilian Portuguese and validate it with patients at the Hospital das Clínicas of the Botucatu Medical School – Unesp. Methods: the questionnaire was translated by a professional translator and two dermatologists specialized in the area of venous ulcers (VU), reformulated in a meeting of the three translators. The construct (VLU-QoL-Br) was submitted to pre-interviews with ten VU patients for adaptation of the language. Subsequen- tly, it was applied to patients at the HC-Unesp, and for test-retest reliability for verification of its reproducibility. Results: 82 patients were evaluated, with 56 (68%) women. The age average was 67.3 years. The questionnaire was translated, adapted and applied to the patients. The construct presented high internal consistency (alpha = 0.94) and adequate item-total correlation. When the 32 retests were evaluated, an intra-class correlation was noted for concordance of 0.78 (p<0.01), indica- ting good reproducibility of the construct. The confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the dimensions of the original questionnaire: activities, psycho- logies, and symptoms. VLU-QoL-Br scores were associated, independently, to the total area of the ulcers and a lower education level of the subjects (p<0.01). Conclusion: the translation, adaptation and validation of the VLU-QoL-Br ques- tionnaire were concluded, demonstrating good psychometric performance, and enabling its clinical use in Brazil. It is important to evaluate its performance in other regions and different samples of individuals. Uniterms: leg ulcer, venous insufficiency, varicose ulcer, quality of life, valida- tion studies. IntroductIon Chronic leg ulcers are defined as lesions situated below the knee with a duration of more than six weeks.1 They represent an important aggravation to public health as they affect 3.6% of adults in western countries.2,3 They present different etiologies (arterial, venous or mixed), however, around 70% of cases are classified as venous ul- cers (VU) resulting from chronic venous insufficiency.1 Owing to their recurrent nature and the long time between opening and healing, VUs present a large eco- nomic and social impact with a negative influence of pa- tient quality of life (QoL).4 The treatment cost, clinical complications, labor limitations and work days lost, re- duction in the pleasure of daily activities, interference in self-esteem, damage to family and social relationships are factors that interfere in carrying for such patients.5 Generic QoL questionnaires do not adequately rep- resent the aspects specifically related to VU. Therefore, specific instruments are needed to contribute to estab- ArAújo rB et Al. 250 rev assoc Med Bras 2014; 60(3):249-254 lishing clinical care based on the real needs of the indi- vidual.6 Up to now, the only specific QoL instrument for VU translated and adapted to the Portuguese language is the Charing Cross Venous Ulcer Questionnaire, which has not yet been validated for use in Brazil.7-10 The British questionnaire Venous Leg Ulcer Quality of Life questionnaire (VLU-QoL) was validated in its country of origin and covers issue relating to the patient’s activi- ties, their psychological conditions and the symptoms of the ulcers.11 The objective of this study was to translate the VLU- QoL to Brazilian Portuguese, adapt it to the Brazilian re- ality and validate it with patients at the Hospital das Clíni- cas (HC) of the Botucatu Medical School (FMB) – Unesp, so that it can be used in the evaluation of QoL for Brazil- ian patients with VU. methodS The project was carried out at the chronic ulcer outpa- tient clinic at the FMB-Unesp, involving adult patients of both sexes with venous leg ulcers during consultations in the period from March 2012 to April 2013. There was no interference in the indication or course of treatment of the patients for the conducting the interviews. The diagnosis of VU was based on the clinical assess- ment and evidence of signs of chronic venous insuffi- ciency. Patients with no tibial pulse and/or ankle-brachi- al index below 0.9 were excluded. A casual sample was taken, consecutively including all eligible and available patients. The sample size was based on previous quality of life study protocols using minimum samples of 80 individuals for the validation process of the construct.12 Based on the guidelines for cultural adaptation of psychometric scales,13 and with the consent of the orig- inal authors of the questionnaire (Asha Hareendran and Tara Symonds) the translation of the VLU-QoL question- naire was undertaken by a professional translator, who did not know the objective of the study, as well as two specialists in the area of dermatology and VU proficient in English. Subsequently, a consensual synthesis of the translations was undertaken in a meeting of the three translators. The translated construct was submitted to a pre-in- terview with ten VU patients to evaluate their compre- hension of the questionnaire and the adaptation of the language. The translation was compared to the original construct. The questionnaire was developed for self-completion, applied to patients from the same institution and reap- plied up to 60 days later during outpatient clinic returns by the same interviewer on 32 patients (test-retest) for verification of the reliability of the construct. After applying the questionnaire, the patients’ de- mographic and clinical information was evaluated. The variation in the total VLU-QoL-Br scores according to sex, age, education level, evolution time of the active ul- cers, number of ulcers and ulcer area as evaluated using the generalized linear model. The total scores of the la- tent dimensions of the questionnaire were compared us- ing the repeated measures ANOVA technique. The internal consistency of the questionnaire devel- oped and the latent dimensions was tested using Cron- bach’s alpha coefficient, excluding retesting. It was con- sidered consistent if it reached a minimum coefficient of 0.8. The item total correlation was also tested and the effect of subtracting the items in the consistency of the questionnaire, with important items that considered as those modifying the coefficient by less than 0.1 units.14 The reproducibility of the construct was tested by comparing the interviews (test-retest reliability). The to- tal score was evaluated in relation to the concordance us- ing the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC -absolute agreement) and presented in a Bland-Altman diagram.15,16 The items from the VLU-QoL-Br were compared with the latent dimensional structure of the original construct using confirmatory factor analysis.14 Patient data was analyzed using SPSS 20 and AMOS software. A value of p<0.05 was considered as signifi- cant.17 The study was approved by the institution’s re- search ethics committee (no.057/2012). reSultS 56 (68%) of the 82 patients interviewed were women. The average age (± standard deviation) was 67.3 (± 13.9) years, varying from 32 to 86 years. The main clinical and demo- graphic variables are shown in Table 1. TranslaTion, culTural adapTaTion To Brazil and validaTion of The venous leg ulcer qualiTy of life quesTionnaire (vlu-qol-Br) rev assoc Med Bras 2014; 60(3):249-254 251 TABLe 1 Main clinical and demographic data of the patients interviewed Gender – N (%) Female 56 (68) Male 26 (32) Age Average 67.3 Standard deviation 13.9 Marital status – N (%) Married 46 (56) Single 13 (16) Widowed 23 (28) Level of Education – N (%) Did not study 17 (21) Primary 56 (68) Secondary 8 (10) Higher 1 (1) Number of ulcers – N (%) 1 49 (60) 2 20 (24) 3 7 (9) >3 6 (7) Evolution time in months Median 162 p25 72 p75 300 Ulcerated area in cm2 Median 8 p25 2 p75 22 VLU-QoL-Br score Average 1435 Standard deviation 843 The questionnaire was translated, adapting the langua- ge and application to the patients (Chart 1). The transla- tion maintained the characteristics of the original cons- truct. There was no significant difference (p=0.63) in the impact between the dimensions: symptoms (mean score ± standard deviation = 491±288), psychological (470±349) and activities (473±364). All of the patients agreed to the interviews and the questionnaires took 8 to 30 minutes for conclusion. The main element identified as causing delays was patient dis- traction. The construct displayed high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α =0.94), and its dimensions presented coef- ficients: 0.91 (activities); 0.91 (psychological) and 0.88 (symp- toms). When excluding variables, the variation of the coef- ficient was less than 0.01, and the correlation between each item and the construct was higher than 0.33. When retesting was evaluated, a high intra-class cor- relation was found for interviews conducted within 30 days (n=19; ICC=0.90) and 60 days (n=32; ICC=0.78), in- dicating adequate reproducibility of the construct (Figu- re 1). The average time between retesting was 38 days. (V1+V2)/2 V1 -V 2 0 500 1.000 1.500 2.000 2.500 3.000 2.500 2.000 1.500 1.000 500 -500 -1.000 -1.500 -2.000 -2.500 0 R2 Linear = 0,015 FigUre 1 Bland-Altman diagram for evaluation of test-retest concordance in less than 60 days (n=32). The mean score (± standard deviation) of visit 1 (V1) was 1417 (±851) and visit 2 (V2), de 954(±928). The confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the latent structure of the original questionnaire, with all of the items presenting significant standardized coefficients (p<0.01) greater than 0.43 for each dimension of the cons- truct. The three dimensions selected explained up to 52% of the questionnaire’s variance. The VLU-QoL-Br scores were associated to tot total area of the ulcers (coefficient β=4.9; p<0.01) and lower educational level (β=682.00; p<0.01), independent of age (β=-11.50; p=0.18), gender (β=-203.60; p=0.39), active ul- cer time (β=0.22; p=0.82) and number of ulcers (β=65.17; p=0.55). dIScuSSIon The VLU-QoL questionnaire was translated, cultural adap- ted and validated for Brazilian Portuguese. The transla- tion presented adequate internal consistency (total and latent dimensions), reproducibility and corroborated the ArAújo rB et Al. 252 rev assoc Med Bras 2014; 60(3):249-254 ChArT 1 Brazilian version of the questionnaire (VLU-QoL-Br) In relation to your ulcer(s), IN THE LAST WEEK: RESPOND: 0. No/never, 25. Rarely, 50. Sometimes, 75. Often, 100. Always/every time Dimensions Questions POINTS Activities Did your ulcers impede the completion of activities outside the home? Did your ulcers impede the completion of daily activities (e.g. work)? Did you ulcers prevent you from leaving your home? Did your ulcers impede activities within the home? Did your ulcers impede movement or locomotion on foot? Do you depend on others because of the ulcers? Did your ulcers prevent you from doing the things you like? Did your ulcers make the completion of common activities slower? Did your ulcers compromise or negatively affect your social life? Did your ulcers prevent you from doing common activities alone? Did the treatment of your ulcers make your daily activities difficult? Did your ulcers make bathing difficult? Psychological Did your ulcers make your embarrassed? Did your ulcers make your uneasy in relation to other people? Did your ulcers make you angry? Did your ulcers make you lack confidence in yourself? Did your ulcers make you sad because of delayed healing? Were you concerned by the possibility of the ulcers never healing? Did your ulcers make you sad or depressed? Did your ulcers make you frustrated or disillusioned? Were you concerned that the ulcers would worsen? Did your ulcers make you easily irritated? Did your ulcers make your feel ugly or unattractive? Did your ulcers prevent you from using the clothes you like? Symptoms Did your ulcers burn or sting? Did your ulcers hurt? Did the skin around the ulcer become irritated? Did the skin around the ulcer itch? Did the skin around the ulcer become sensitive? Did your ulcers make sleeping difficult? Did your ulcers prevent you from relaxing or resting? Did your ulcers make you feel tired? Did your ulcers emit fluid or pus? Did your ulcers have a disagreeable /bad smell? TranslaTion, culTural adapTaTion To Brazil and validaTion of The venous leg ulcer qualiTy of life quesTionnaire (vlu-qol-Br) rev assoc Med Bras 2014; 60(3):249-254 253 latent structure of the original instrument, enabling it to be used in assessing the QoL in chronic venous legal ul- cer in Brazil. More than just an assessment index for the outco- mes of clinical studies, the QoL evaluation is important for demonstrating the perception of the disease from the patient’s point of view. As the treatment of patients with VU involves an extended healing time, the VLU-QoL-Br permits the priority dimensions to be identified for in- tervention while caring for the lesion, aimed at the ove- rall care of the patient. The questionnaire was achieved high acceptance among patients, despite the time for completion by some patients limiting its use in clinical practice. Other gene- ric constructs such as the WHOQOL (The World Health Organization Quality of Life) and SF-36 (The Short Form Health Survey) are longer and, like the DLQI (Dermatologic Life Quality Index), do not specifically represent the impacts inflicted by VUs.18 It was also demonstrated that the use of generic ins- truments is not always adequate owing to their lack of sensitivity and incapacity to identify change in QoL in re- lation to the characteristics of the ulcer and its conse- quences, such as chronicity, recurrence, natural course of the disease, pain, odor, edema, exudates, limitation of mobility, physical appearance, emotional and social as- pects the effect of these variables on quality of life.19 Gonzalez-Consuegra and Verdu, in a review of 22 stu- dies, verified the negative impact of VUs on the QoL of patients. In these studies, the impact was measured using various types of instruments.20 Another systematic review conducted to evaluate the impact of chronic leg ulcers on the QoL of patients suggested that they are significan- tly exposed to more pain, functional and social restric- tions, lower vitality and limitations in relation to emo- tional aspects when compared to controls.21 There are some specific constructs for evaluating the QoL of VU patients with proven reliability and validity. Those studied most are the Hyland22 and Charing Cross Ve- nous Leg Ulcer Questionnaire.8 The Sheffield Preference-based Venous Leg Ulcer 5 (SPVLU-5D) and Venous Leg Ulcer Qua- lity of Life (VLU-QoL) instruments are the newest and most promising, owing to the structure of the items evaluated, and they require validation in other languages, such as Brazilian Portuguese.20 The test-retest reliability of the VLU-QoL-Br displayed a positive bias in the first interview compared to the second. This may have occurred as a result of the second interview in the clinical follow-up during treatment and after medi- cal intervention, leading to possible modification of the cli- nical symptoms during the observation time. This hypothe- sis is strengthened when noting the greater concordance in the interviews conducted in less than one month. In a multivariate analysis, higher VLU-QoL-Br scores are associated with large areas affected by ulcers, corro- borating the correlation between the physical dimension of the disease and the impact on QoL. The same aspect was identified in other venous ulcer QoL studies and in the development of the original questionnaire.11,23 The ethnical and cultural variations of the popula- tion groups studied and their specific representation of the health/disease phenomenon are critical to the uni- versalization of versions of QoL questionnaires develo- ped for specific populations.24-28 In this case, the VLU- -QoL, originally British and based on the Skindex-29 and 19 sub-items established by focus groups started with 48 questions that resulted in the current structure. Howe- ver, it did not explore aspects connected to the impact of religious syncretism, married life or sexuality of patients, elements that are characteristically present in the reality of Latin populations. Despite the high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, the relative length of the questionnaire (34 items) leads to completion for more than 15 minutes and does not cover spiritual aspects or those related to con- jugal intimacy. These arguments may justify the develo- pment of a new instrument for assessing QoL in VU. The special characteristics of those with VU atten- ding university based public services, as targeted in this study, should be reiterated: more serious and chronic ca- ses, and patients with a low social and educational level. These aspects did not prevent the validation of the ins- trument per se; however, despite its good psychometric performance, they allude to the possibility of investiga- ting its performance in different population groups. concluSIon The translation, adaptation and validation of the VLU- -QoL-Br questionnaire were concluded, demonstrating good psychometric performance, and enabling its clini- cal use in Brazil. It is important to evaluate its performan- ce in other regions and different samples of individuals. Ethical aspects The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to the products or the results of this study. The- re was not direct or indirect benefit to the authors or vo- lunteers in the study. The project was approved by the institution’s research ethics committee (no. 57/2012 on 3/5/2012). ArAújo rB et Al. 254 rev assoc Med Bras 2014; 60(3):249-254 Financing: Project financed by the FAPESP (2012/01551-08). reSumo Tradução, adaptação cultural para o Brasil e validação do questionário sobre qualidade de vida em úlceras venosas de membros inferiores (VLU-QoL-Br) Objetivo: traduzir o instrumento Venous legulcer quality of life questionnaire (VLU-QoL), adaptá-lo culturalmente para o português do Brasil e validá-lo com pacientes do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Bo- tucatu (FMB) da Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Métodos: o questionário foi traduzido por um tradutor profissional e por dois dermatologistas especialistas na área de úlceras venosas (UV), sendo reformulado em reunião com os três tradutores. O constructo (VLU-QoL- -Br) foi submetido a pré-entrevista com 10 portadores de UV para a adaptação da linguagem. Posteriormente, foi aplicado em pacientes do HC-Unesp, e como teste-retes- te para verificação de sua reprodutibilidade. Resultados: foram avaliados 82 pacientes, sendo 56 (68%) do sexo feminino. A idade média foi de 67,3 anos. O ques- tionário foi traduzido, adaptado e aplicado aos pacien- tes. O constructo apresentou alta consistência interna (alfa= 0,94) e adequada correlação item-total. Quando avaliados os 32 retestes, observou-se correlação intraclas- se para concordância de 0,78 (p < 0,01), indicando boa reprodutibilidade do constructo. A análise fatorial con- firmatória corroborou as dimensões do questionário ori- ginal: atividades, psicológico e sintomas. Escores do VLU- -QoL-Br se associaram, independentemente, à área total das úlceras e a menor escolaridade dos sujeitos (p < 0,01). Conclusão: a tradução, a adaptação e a validação do ques- tionário VLU-Qol-Br demonstrou boa performance psi- cométrica, permitindo seu uso clínico no Brasil. É impor- tante avaliar seu desempenho em outras regiões e em diferentes amostras de indivíduos. Unitermos: úlcera da perna; insuficiência venosa; úlcera varicosa; qualidade de vida; estudos de validação. referenceS 1. Abbade LP, Lastoria S. Venous ulcer: epidemiology, physiopathology, diagnosis and treatment. Int J Dermatol. 2005;44:449-56. 2. Miot HA, Mendacolli TJ, Costa SV, Haddad GR, Abbade LP. [Chronic ulcers of the lower limbs: area evaluation by digital photography]. Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2009;55:145-8. 3. Maffei FH, Magaldi C, Pinho SZ, Lastoria S, Pinho W, Yoshida WB, et al. Varicose veins and chronic venous insufficiency in Brazil: prevalence among 1755 inhabitants of a country town. 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