Informative statements to communicate the findings of systematic reviews of interventions: cross-cultural translation of Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation plain language into Portuguese language

OBJECTIVE: Transparent and easy-to-understand communication can enhance the dissemination of systematic reviews (SRs) results to interest holders. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Working Group developed an approach to improve the communication of results from SR of interventions in the English language. Here, we present the cross-cultural translation into Brazil Portuguese language of this approach. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: The cross-cultural adaptation of the approach to communicate the results into Brazilian Portuguese followed three steps: a) a qualitative research method was used to translate the informative statements designed by the GRADE Working Group and culturally adapted them into Brazilian Portuguese; b) Brazilian experts in evidence synthesis evaluated the content validity of the translated statements; and c) a quantitative cross-sectional study assessed the reliability and acceptability of the translated sentences. RESULTS: One of the main challenges was adjusting the terms related to the classification of low and moderate certainty of evidence. Experts suggested the adoption of "average" instead "moderate" for effect size to avoid misleading in Portuguese, as it is also used for the classification of certainty of evidence. The group proposed to use the term "average effect" as an alternative to "moderate effect." Low acceptability (<50%) was found in for some statements of low certainty of evidence. CONCLUSION: The main contributions of this study were related to adjustments of English terms that are prone to diverse interpretations but share a similar translation in Portuguese. Through cultural adaptation processes, it is possible to ensure a higher level of understanding and clarity, enhancing the effectiveness of the use of GRADE in decision-making process.