Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Brazilian Portuguese Version of an Observational Measure for Parent-Child Responsive Caregiving

Responsive caregiving is the dimension of parenting most consistently related to later child functioning in both developing and developed countries. There is a growing need for efficient, psychometrically sound and culturally appropriate measurement of this construct. This study describes the cross-cultural validation in Brazil of the Responsive Interactions for Learning (RIFL-P) measure, requiring only eight minutes for assessment and coding. The cross-cultural adaptation used a recognized seven-step procedure. The adapted version was applied to a stratified sample of 153 Brazilian mother-child (18 months) dyads. Videos of mother-child interaction were coded using the RIFL-P and a longer gold standard parenting assessment. Mothers completed a survey on child stimulation (18 months) and child outcomes were measured at 24 months. Internal consistency (α = 0.94), inter-rater reliability ( = 0.83), and intra-rater reliability ( = 0.94) were all satisfactory to high. RIFL-P scores were significantly correlated with another measurement of parenting ('s ranged from 0.32 to 0.47, < 0.001), stimulation markers ( = 0.34, < 0.01), and children's cognition ( = 0.29, < 0.001), language ( = 0.28, < 0.001), and positive behavior ( = 0.17, < 0.05). The Brazilian Portuguese version is a valid and reliable instrument for a brief assessment of responsive caregiving.