Quality of life of the deaf people that communicate through sign languages: construction of the LIBRAS version of the WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-DIS instruments

Introduction: The evaluation of the quality of life of the deaf community is limited by the difficulties of communication in the oral and written language, thence the necessity of developing reliable instruments in sign language with methodological strictness that includes particular characteristics of the deaf people. Among the cultural lines of the deaf community, sign language is the most emphasized one: besides being a linguistical system, it is an element of constitution of the deaf person identity. In Brazil, it is legally assured the deaf the right to communicate in his natural language, that is, Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS), with no imposition of the usage of the majority language of the country. This doctoring thesis is part of the WHOQOL-LIBRAS project, a result of a partnership between Federal University of Goiás, World Health Organization and Brazil´s WHOQOL group in Federal University of Rio Grande Do Sul. In order to perform the WHOQOL-LIBRAS project, it was divided into two sub-projects with distinct but interdependent stages: Project 1 - Construction of the WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-DIS versions in LIBRAS; Project 2 - Application/validation of the WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-DIS instruments in the LIBRAS version. This thesis comprises Project 1. General Objective: Build the LIBRAS version of the WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-DIS instruments to evaluate the brazilian deaf community quality of life. Methods: A transversal and exploratory study, designing based in the Methodological Research. The methodology proposed by the World Health Organization was used and adapted to the deaf community, and in accordance with the criteria established with Brazil WHOQOL group, the accomplishment of the project was divided into 13 phases: 1. creation of the QUALITY OF LIFE sign; 2. development of the answer scales in LIBRAS; 3. translation by a bilingual group; 4. recouncilling version; 5. first retrotranslation; 6. production of the version in LIBRAS to be provided to the f...