Objective: To translate and establish the cross-cultural validation of the 'Nursing Work Index - Revised' into Brazilian Portuguese. Methods: Internationally recommended methodological procedures were followed strictly: Translation, back-translation, cross-cultural validation by an expert panel, and pre-test of the instrument. Results: The translation and back-translation steps were satisfactory. The cross-cultural validation of the instrument by the expert panel resulted in changes in most of the items of Portuguese version of the instrument. These changes, were necessary to establish the cross-cultural equivalency between the English and the Portuguese versions of the instrument. Pre-test of the Portuguese version of the instrument also suggested the need to revise some items to make them clearer. Conclusion: Despite the complexity of the process of the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of an instrument, the Brazilian Portuguese version of the 'Nursing Work Index - Revised' was found to have cross-cultural equivalency with the original English version of the instrument.223281287