Translating a Clinical Practice Guideline to a Portuguese, Spanish and English Practice Brief to promote exercise therapy for paediatric Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Implementing scientific knowledge in clinical practice is a challenge. In this context, the effective dissemination of scientific findings is of utmost importance.

The aim of this study was to develop a Practice Brief in Portuguese, Spanish and English based on a previously published Clinical Practice Guideline to promote safe and effective exercise for children and young people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and related neuropathies (CMT).

The Practice Brief was developed by eight health professionals from Brazil and Australia with English, Portuguese, and Spanish translations. The target audience chosen were the medical and allied health professionals involved in the rehabilitation of paediatric CMT. The content was based on the world first “Clinical Practice Guideline for the management of paediatric Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease” [1]. The layout of the Practice Brief was designed according to the criteria for the development of educational materials. The disclosure plan for the Practice Brief involves its publication on University and Hospital websites, and through social media platforms such as ResearchGate, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, as well as in print format for CMT patient care centres.

The English, Portuguese and Spanish versions of the Practice Brief is organised into six sections about assessment, exercise and physical rehabilitation, of which one is focused on progressive resistance exercises for the foot dorsiflexor muscles.

We developed a Practice Brief in three languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish), synthesising the main recommendations for exercise and related rehabilitative therapies for paediatric CMT from a published clinical guideline.