Transcultural Adaptation Process of the Griffiths-III Mental Development Scale

Background: The Griffiths-III Mental Development Scale (GMDS-III) is used in the diagnosis of child development in several countries, presenting cross-cultural adaptation of the original British version. In Brazil, there is a shortage of standardized and normalized diagnostic tools for the child population. The study describes the cross-cultural adaptation of the GMDS-III for the Brazilian reality.

Method: Ethical aspects were fulfilled (CAAE: 34802014.0.0000.5417). Six steps of the cross-cultural adaptation process suggested by the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons Outcomes Committee were followed: two independent translations; synthesis translations and version T1-2 preparation; T1-2 version retrotranslation, blinded, by two natives of the origin language and fluent in the target language; expert committee review maintaining conceptual, idiomatic, semantic, and cultural equivalence, elaborating the pre-final version; application of the pre-final version, in Portuguese, for 96 Brazilian children; documentation submission to the original scale authors.

Results: Five hundred seventy-one words/expressions translated and adapted from English to Brazilian Portuguese. No gross inconsistencies or conceptual error were found in the translation. The pre-final version was applied to 72 children, distributed along the scale age range, with no absence of response for any item, making a satisfactory distribution of the skills assessed in the instrument. Original scale authors issued a certificate agreeing with the process.

Conclusions: The GMDS-III was adapted transculturally to the Brazilian reality following a rigorous methodology. This work is an anchor for scale normalization with application in a representative sample of Brazilian children, as well as verification of psychometric properties in the Brazilian version. This was the first step towards the beginning of the transformation of the Brazilian children's scenario regarding the use of a standardized and normalized assessment instrument, providing an early and assertive diagnosis.