CONNECT – Uma medida de continuidade do cuidado em serviços de saúde mental: adaptação transcultural e confiabilidade da escala

Objective Perform evidence studies and cross-cultural adaptation and the reliability of the Portuguese version (Brazil) of the CONNECT – A measure of continuity of care in mental health services, in a sample of 50 individuals with severe mental illnesses. Methods The cross-cultural adaptation was performed according to the process of translation and adaptation of instruments (WHO). Reliability was assessed by internal consistency by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and by stability over time through the weighted kappa, kappa adjusted for prevalence (PABAK) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results The process of translation and back translation of CONNECT resulted in the Portuguese version adapted to Brazilian culture. In the assessment of reliability for PABAK, 34 items showed moderate reliability and significant or almost perfect. The agreement by the ICC was weak or poor for three subscales, but since most of the items presented agreement percentage above 50%. The internal consistency by Cronbach’s alpha was moderate to high for three subscales and to the composition of full scalle denoting the appropriateness and consistency of the items. Conclusion CONNECT is the first measure of continuity of care adapted to the Brazilian cultural context. Its adaptation showed satisfactory suitability of equivalence between the original version and the version in Portuguese. The results for most subscales were satisfactory, however, differed from other studies on the CONNECT. This study is the first phase to obtain a valid measure of continuity of care for Brazilian patients with severe mental illnesses and additional studies to examine the validity of the CONNECT still are needed.