Studies about bowel habit, considering culture, dietary and life patterns, do not exist in Brazil. The aim of this article is to present The Bowel Function in the Community, as a specific tool to assess the bowel function in populations, adapted and validated in Brazil. The process of cultural adaptation and validation included translation, back translation and evaluation by a committee of specialists. The obtained version was submitted to analysis which confirmed its content validity. Inter rater reliability and stability were ratified through good to excellent and moderate to excellent levels of agreement respectively for almost all of instrument´s questions and groups. In conclusion, the adapted and validated version of The Bowel Function in the Community tool may be applied in our country to continue the validation process and to obtain more information about the bowel habits in Brazilian population.
Defecation; Cross-cultural comparison; Nursing; Validation studies
