Abstract

CARVALHO, Marcele Regine de; COSTA, Rafael Thomaz da  and  NARDI, Antonio Egidio. Simulator Sickness Questionnaire: translation and cross-cultural adaptation. J. bras. psiquiatr. [online]. 2011, vol.60, n.4, pp. 247-252. ISSN 0047-2085.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0047-20852011000400003.

Background: The study of cybersickness, uncomfortable symptoms related to interaction in vir­tual environments, is important for these environments’ improvement that help to preserve the welfare of users and reduce the abandonment of virtual exposures. Using an appropriate instrument to identify and measure the symptoms of cybersickness in a standardized way can contribute to this purpose. Objective: The objective of the current study is to present the stages of translation and adaptation into Portuguese of the instrument "Simulator Sickness Questionnaire", which measures cybersickness’ symptoms. Methods: Three translations and back translations were conducted by independent evaluators, the semantic equivalence and versions’ evaluation were made, producing a synthesized version. Comments from participants on the preliminary version of the questionnaire were examined. Results: The preliminary Brazilian version of the questionnaire was developed. It was found that most participants understood the symptoms’ descriptions given in the translated questionnaire. Conclusion: The use of three different versions of translation and back translation, the discussion of the synthetic version and the interaction with the target population have provided viability for the process of semantic equivalence of the Brazilian final version.

Keywords : Cybersickness; virtual reality; cross-cultural adaptation; semantic equivalence.