Translation and validation into Brazilian Portuguese and assessment of the COREQ checklist

Abstract

Objective: To translate and validate the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) into Brazilian Portuguese and verify the impact of the authors' recommendation to use COREQ in articles published in a scientific journal of nursing. Methods: This is a methodological and descriptive study. In the first stage, a protocol for translating instruments was adopted; then, COREQ in Brazilian Portuguese was applied to analyze the quality of published articles, in a scientific journal, two years before and two years after the adoption of COREQ by the journal. Results: In the first phase, the 32 items of COREQ were translated and validated by three judges by using the Delphi Technique, with a 99% agreement among judges. In the second phase, 77 qualitative articles with were assessed, with 25 articles published between 2014-2015 (before the adoption of COREQ by the journal) and 52 articles between 2016-2017 (after the adoption of COREQ). There was a statistically significant difference before and after the adoption of COREQ between five items: Identification of the authors who conducted the research; Presentation of the activity/occupation of authors; Information about the time spent to conduct the interviews; Information on returning interviews to participants for comments and/or correction; and Presentation of the coding tree description. Median attendance for the 32 items reached 56.3% (before) and 62.5% (after), with statistical significance. Conclusion: The COREQ translation was considered valid by experts. Analysis of the use of COREQ by the analyzed journal improved the quality of published articles.