Cross-cultural adaptation of the “Here’s How I Write” a self- assessment of the handwriting for the Brazilian children

Aim:
Handwriting is an essential component of school work and an important skill for academic success. Children with difficulties in hand-writing may avoid writing which, in the long run, can compromise school performance. The “Here’s How I Write” (HHIW) is a new assessment tool that incorporates aspects of the client-centered approach as it involves the perspective of both the teacher and the child. The instrument helps the child and the teacher to identify handwriting problems and collaborate to define goals and solutions to improve performance. The objective of this study was to conduct a transcultural adaption of the HHIW to the Brazilian Portuguese.

Method:
The study was conducted in two steps: (1) process of transcultural adaptation of the HHIW, as proposed by Beaton et al, (2) examine validity and reliability for the Brazilian children. The sample consisted of 60 children from public and private schools, ages 8 to 10 years old, of both genders, divided into two groups, identified by the teachers: G1 with handwriting difficulty and G2 with no handwriting difficulty. The children from both groups were paired by gender, school level, age and social class.The children were assessed individually and the teachers answered the questionnaire, resulting in scores for the child (C) and teacher (T). The total and partial scores of the two groups were compared (Mann Whitney) and reliability indexes were calculated, test-retest (ICC) and internal consistency (Cronbach Alfa).

Results:
Children with poor handwriting (C = 68,87 ± 10,67; T = 65,57 ± 13,85) presented scores significantly lower than children with a good handwriting (C = 86,57 ± 10,67; T = 82,83 ± 12,94) (p<0,05). Test-retest reliability (consistency) was excellent for the total score for both the child (ICC=0,94) and the teacher (ICC=0,93) questionnaires. The internal consistency was also excellent (C = 0,915 and T = 0,953). The congruence (total agreement) between the total score for C and T was moderate (ICC>0,73,p=0,000) and on individual items, some did not show good congruence between C and T.

Discussion:
There was significant difference between the groups regarding the children with and without handwriting difficulties. The psychometric qualities of HHIW were maintained with the adaptation, showing that this assessment tool can be used with Brazilian children to help in the identification of problems in calligraphy and in the definition of intervention goals focused on improving handwriting.