Parental involvement in neonatal care: Translation and validation into european Portuguese of the CO-PARTNER questionnaire

The article addresses the indisputable importance of early intervention for premature babies and their families, focusing specifically on the translation, adaptation and validation of the CO-PARTNER questionnaire into European Portuguese. This study is of much relevance as it contributes to the availability of a translated, adapted, and validated tool that measures parental involvement in neonatal care, the unique so far, in European Portuguese. The methodology was guided by ethical standards, starting with the translation of the questionnaire by bilingual experts, followed by reconciliation, back-translation and content review. Pre-testing was carried out with a group of experts, including mothers of premature babies, ensuring cultural relevance and clarity. Content validation involves evaluating items based on criteria such as clarity, relevance and simplicity, using Likert scales and content validity indexes (CVI). The percentages of agreement among experts, which varied between 71 % and 100 %, were analyzed and items with lower consensus were adjusted. The results show that most items achieved high agreement and validity. No items were deleted and 16 items have been adjusted for greater accuracy. The final version of the “Partnership" questionnaire, translated to European Portuguese as “Parceria” maintains the original structure, with six domains that assess activities such as daily care and comfort for the baby in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). It is an innovative and useful tool for analyzing parent's involvement in premature baby care, giving important cues for enhancing parental and family centered interventions in neonatal care.