Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Chilean Version of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile – VAPP

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to obtain the cross-culturally-adapted Chilean version of the voice activity and participation profile - VAPP. Methods: The process began a with translation of the original English version of the VAPP instrument into Spanish, carried out by two bilingual speech-language pathologists (SLP), followed by a back-translation from a third SLP who was unbiased by the previous stages. A committee of 5 SLP with experience in the area of voice compared the original version, the back translation, and the translated version, seeking divergences and discrepancies between the three versions. A consensus was reached, and they renamed the protocol “Perfil de Participación y Actividad Vocal (PPAV-CL)”, with 28 questions which were answered using a visual analog scale (VAS) of 100 millimeters in length. In the process of making the cross-cultural equivalence, the protocol was applied to 24 subjects with voice disorders. For each question, the option of “Not applicable” was added to the answer choices for identification of the questions not comprehended or not appropriate for the target population. None of the subjects under assessment had difficulty answering the questions, therefore it was unnecessary to modify the translation of any of them. The final version of the PPAV-CL shows the appropriate characteristics to be understood. Results: The PPAV-CL instrument reflects the original English version in the number of questions and items. Conclusion: a cultural equivalence of the VAPP to Chilean Spanish was achieved. The validation of the PPAV-CL is currently underway.