[Spanish translation and validation of the Burke Lateropulsion Scale to measure pusher behaviour]

Pusher behaviour is an alteration of postural control and the perception of the midline which occurs in some patients after suffering a stroke and it has important functional consequences, so its evaluation is essential.

To translate into Spanish and to validate the Burke Lateropulsion Scale (BLS), used to evaluate the signs of pusher behaviour in patients.

To achieve the proposed objectives, a translation-back translation into Spanish of the scale was performed and the validity and reliability of a sample of post-stroke patients was evaluated. In addition, sensitivity to change was evaluated in patients who turned out to be pushers and received physiotherapy treatment.

The experts' answers indicated that the scale was valid in terms of its content to evaluate pusher behaviour in a sample of patients. Cronbach's alpha obtained a result of 0.91. The evaluation of inter-observer and intra-observer reliability gave an overall intraclass correlation coefficient result of 0.99. When the reliability of each item was evaluated by means of the weighted kappa coefficient, most of the results exceeded 0.9. Finally, on evaluating the sensitivity to change on the scale in the sample of pusher patients, the results showed that the BLS is sensitive to the changes which occur after receiving neurological physiotherapy treatment for items related to standing, transfers and walking.

The BLS scale is valid and reliable for measuring pusher behaviour in patients who have suffered a stroke and is sensitive to changes after neurological physiotherapy treatment.