Objectives:

Translate and adapt the Hospitalized Elderly Needs Awareness Scale (Henas) into Portuguese for Brazil and Portugal.

Methodology:

The methodological procedures for cultural and linguistic adaptation were followed; namely, initial translation, synthesis of translations, retroversion, and an evaluation of semantic, linguistic, cultural and conceptual equivalence carried out by a committee of experts. The adapted version was tested (pre-test) by applying the scale to 249 Brazilian and Portuguese nurses during 2014.

Results:

No words or expressions considered divergent were found, with the exception of the word awareness in the title of the instrument and the expression medical acuity in Item K. In keeping with phase IV of the cultural translation and adaptation process, the expert committee proposed changing the expression 75 years or more to 65 years or more in the introduction to the instrument. In the Portuguese version for Brazil, the word sanita was replaced by the expression vaso sanitário. As for the adapted version, the participants did not express doubts or refer to difficulties in completing the instrument.

Conclusions:

The process of translation and cultural adaptation of Henas for the Portuguese language followed the stages recommended internationally and from which semantic, idiomatic, cultural and conceptual equivalence was obtained. Further research is needed to evaluate other properties of the instrument and its behavior with different samples.

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