Translation and transcultural adaptation of the Modified Swallowing Assessment (MSA) to Brazilian Portuguese.

Purpose: To translate and adapt the Modified Swallowing Assessment (MSA) protocol for post-stroke patients into Brazilian Portuguese.

Methods: This is an initial stage of the Brazilian Portuguese Modified Swallowing Assessment validation process. Translation was performed by two bilingual speech therapists and the translations synthesis evaluations by two external dysphagia experts. The synthesis version in the target language (Portuguese) was back-translated into the source language (English). After the synthesis of the translated versions, the instrument was applied to 22 post-stroke individuals.

Results: Health professionals discussed all the results of the study stages considering the instrument concept and the target population. The semantic, linguistic and conceptual equivalences found in the translation and adaptation process were adequate, not requiring modifications since the items were consistent with the Brazilian culture.

Conclusion: MSA was translated and adapted to Brazilian Portuguese (MSA-BR). The translation and cross-cultural adaptation process included all the items of the original protocol and maintained the standards and characteristics of the instrument.