[First stage of the cross-cultural adaptation of the instrument The Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13) to Portuguese].

The aim of this study was to describe the initial stages of the cross-cultural adaptation of the instrument The Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13) for use in the context of cancer care in Brazil. Two translations into Portuguese and two back-translations into English were carried out independently, and a formal assessment of the general and referential meanings was performed in order to obtain a synthesis version. Understanding of the synthesis version was evaluated in a pretest applied to 33 patients in an oncologic hospital of the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS). The version was easily applied in the intended context and was well-accepted by elders. The Portuguese version of the VES-13 proved to be well understood and adequate for testing its psychometric qualities. The latter step is currently in the final phase.