Cross-cultural adaptation of the Brazilian version of the Levels of Speech Usage scale

Abstract

Purpose: Perform the cross-cultural equivalence of the Brazilian version of the Levels of Speech Usage (LSU) self-report categorical rating scale. Methods: First, the LSU was translated into Brazilian Portuguese by three speech-language pathologists fluent in English. Next, a back-translation was performed by another speech-language pathologist. A committee of speech-language pathologists compared the translated protocol with its original version and approved it with the name LSU-Br. The Brazilian Portuguese version also contains five answer options: "restrito" (undemanding), "eventual" (intermittent), "frequente" (routine), "intenso" (extensive), and "extremo" (extraordinary) from which only one must be chosen considering the speech usage of the individual in the past year, and the response chosen is the protocol result. A total of 31 individuals responded to the LSU-Br. The option "does not apply" was added in order to identify any questions that could be misunderstood by the target population or that were not appropriate to the Brazilian culture. Results: Thirty-one individuals answered the protocol. No cultural or conceptual barriers were founded. Conclusion: The cross-cultural equivalence between the Levels of Speech Usage scale and its Brazilian version (LSU-Br) was verified. Validation of the LSU-Br is under progress.