Brazilian Portuguese version of questionnaires assessing evidence-based practice competencies in healthcare students: Translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and measurement properties

Background: While several instruments assess evidence-based practice (EBP) competencies, few are available for the Brazilian population, particularly healthcare students. Objective: To perform a cross-cultural translation of the Student Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (S-EBPQ) and Evidence-Based Practice Evaluation Competence Questionnaire (EBP-COQ) into Brazilian Portuguese; to adapt and validate the Brazilian Portuguese versions for use with healthcare students from diverse courses; and to assess the measurement properties of the translated and adapted versions. Methods: Four hundred forty-two healthcare students were included, and three versions were tested: S-EBPQ-BR, EBP-COQ-BR for nursing students, and EBP-COQ-BR for healthcare students. We assessed internal consistency, reliability, construct validity, responsiveness, and ceiling/floor effects. For reliability, participants completed the questionnaires twice, one week apart. For responsiveness, they completed them after participating in an educational program. Results: No issues were identified with understanding or applicability. For overall scores, the translated questionnaires demonstrated strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.87-0.92), good to moderate reliability (ICC_3,1=0.63-0.88), construct validity with moderate to very strong correlations to the Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (r=0.43-0.89), no ceiling or floor effects, and adequate responsiveness with significant pre- and post-educational program score differences. For subscales, the majority of them demonstrated satisfactory measurement properties, except for S-EBPQ-BR attitude (low internal consistency, poor reliability, and ceiling effect), EBP-COQ attitude (inadequate construct validity), and EBP-COQ skills (inadequate construct validity). Conclusion: The Brazilian Portuguese versions of S-EBPQ and EBP-COQ exhibit strong measurement properties, including high internal consistency, adequate reliability, valid construct validity, and responsiveness. However, some subscales present suboptimal internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity.