Cross-cultural adaptation and reliability analysis of the Brazilian version of the Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ)

Introduction: The Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ) is an international instrument, based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), used to assess the functional capacity of people with work disabilities. Objective: To perform a cross-cultural adaptation and a reliability analysis of this instrument for the Brazilian population. Method: The cross-cultural adaptation consisted of translation, synthesis of translations, back translations, analysis by the committee of judges, pre-test, and pilot test. The results were obtained by calculating the agreement rate for semantic, idiomatic, experiential, and conceptual equivalence. Reliability was tested by analysis of stability, equivalence, and internal consistency by calculating Cronbach's Alpha and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Results: Five translators, eight judges, and 14 possible users in the pre-test participated in the first stage. The agreement rate was <90% only for idiomatic equivalence, resulting in orthographic adjustments without changing the instrument construct. The reliability was tested on 34 workers with disabilities, with a mean age of 40.3 (& PLUSMN;4.2) years, of both sexes, employees of an educational institution in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, hired through the Quotas Law (8,213/91). The internal consistency showed values >80% in all domains and was >90% for the total score. Fifteen days after the first assessment, 20 of these participants were randomly selected for reassessment. The ICC values for stability and equivalence were 82.5% (p=0.008) and 95.4% (p<0.001), respectively. Conclusion: The WORQ was translated and cross-culturally adapted to Brazilian Portuguese and reliably responded to the ICF domains. The Brazilian version of the WORQ is available at http://www.myworq.org/questionnaire_en.php.