Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Breathing Vigilance Questionnaire (Breathe-VQ) into Danish

People living with respiratory conditions often experience vigilant monitoring of their breathing, which is thought to contribute to the vicious cycle of dysfunctional breathing (DB) and anxiety. The 6-item Breathing Vigilance Questionnaire (Breathe-VQ) was recently developed in English to quantify breathing vigilance in respiratory diseases and DB. We aimed to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Breathe-VQ into Danish. The translation process followed international guidelines and was based on six stages to facilitate development of pre-version, test, and settlement of final version. The process was performed in collaboration between clinicians, translators, and developers. Between November 2023 and February 2024, face validity was tested through cognitive, semi-structured interviews with 13 individuals (age: 24-79 years; females n=9. Respiratory conditions: asthma n=8; COPD n=4; DB n=1; other n=4; under work up n=3). Approval was obtained from the Committee on Health Research Ethics (EMN-2023-07484) and the Danish Act on Processing of Personal Data (REG-111-2023). Adaptation concerning semantic equivalence was made, primarily to solve inter-generational discrepancy, e.g., to the specific words “monitor” (item 1), being “alarmed” (item 2), and being “highly aware” (item 3). The face validity group expressed that the Breathe-VQ was relevant, comprehensible, and easy to complete. The Breathe-VQ is the first breathing vigilance questionnaire to be translated and cross-culturally adapted into Danish. Psychometric properties should be tested further in a larger sample of individuals with respiratory conditions.