PURPOSE: To perform the cross-cultural adaptation of an instrument designed to measure behavioral changes typically described in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the Neurobehavior Inventory (NBI), for Brazilian population. METHODS: At first the original instrument was translated to Portuguese-Brazilian language. This version was revised and translated back into English. Later, both English versions were compared and the divergences were corrected in the Portuguese text. The second step consisted of the application of the inventory to 15 TLE patients from the Epilepsy Program, Federal University of Minas Gerais. The authors analyzed eventual difficulties and misunderstandings in the application of the questionnaire. RESULTS: In the final Portuguese version, the questions 11, 14, 17, 61 and 75 were considered difficult to understand and were modified. Seven (46.7%) subjects were women, with 26 to 65 years. Most of the patients (93.3%) had a high total score level. Religious convictions, interest in details and sense of personal destiny were the most common altered domains (73.3% of the patients in each one of them). CONCLUSION: The Portuguese-Brazilian version of the NBI may be a useful instrument to evaluate TLE behavioral alterations in the Brazilian clinical context.
epilepsy; temporal lobe epilepsy; behavior; NBI; cross-cultural adaptation
