Avaliação dos hábitos de vida segundo a Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H) : adaptação cultural e valores normativos para crianças brasileiras

Abstract

Rating scales of infant development have been increasingly used in clinical and scientific research. However, the challenge of accurately identifying changes is compounded by the lack of standardized assessment tools and validated for the Brazilian population. Furthermore, to assess the child's life habits have been increasingly promoted in clinical and scientific research. Thus, the first study identified the child assessment tools developed in Portuguese or translated into Portuguese; characteristics of the aspects evaluated by them were presented, and identified their clinical utility and quality. In conclusion, still need to be developed or translated and validated instruments for children under 4 years, with the matter of activities of daily living and children's social participation and that take into account the context and family issues. Thus, the second study was conducted to present the process of translation and cultural adaptation of the Assessment of Life Habits for children to Brazilian Portuguese. In the process of translation, the Brazilian version was called LIFE-H_BR (Avaliação dos Hábitos de Vida, para crianças do nascimento aos 4 anos de idade). The results obtained in this study demonstrated high concordance (<94%) and similarity between the technical judges in the translation process and that 29 items had to be modified in the process of cultural adaptation. However, it is necessary that the evaluation is performed with valid instruments for the studied population. Therefore the third and fourth studies were performed. Study 3 determined the percentage of items LIFE-H_BR adapted for children from 0-4 years that are directly related to the items of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) and reported that areas of ICF-CY are represented in LIFE-H_BR. In addition, the percentage of items in the Activities and Participation ICF-CY that can be evaluated using the LIFE-H_BR was determined, and if the LIFE-H_BR is limited to evaluate all components of the ICF-CY. The results showed that the LIFE-H_BR evaluates the participation of children and in this criterion it meets what is proposed, i.e., it has construct validity. Study 4 aimed to verify the concurrent and predictive criterion validity of the LIFEH_ BR, and demonstrated strong and positive correlation between the raw score of LIFE-H_BR and PEDI (Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory), confirming the concurrent validity between the two instruments. The similarity between the raw score of LIFE-H_BR and PEDI was also considered strong and positive, scores confirming the predictive validity of the LIFEH_BR. Thus, the Brazilian version of the LIFE-H is an instrument that has strong concurrent and predictive validation with PEDI and is considered valid for the evaluation of Brazilian children. Thus, it is expected that the LIFE-H_BR can be an important tool for evaluation, development and monitoring of lifestyle conditions of child patients. In addition, it is a tool for clinicians and researchers to assess the life habits of Brazilian children, allowing future comparative studies of children with disorders and disabilities. It is noteworthy that the LIFE-H_BR has the advantage of observation and evaluation of family satisfaction level regarding the independence and participation of children in society, one more data that can guide the intervention in children's rehabilitation process.