Translation, adaptation and validation of instruments or scales for use in cross-cultural health care research: a clear and user-friendly guideline.
OBJECTIVE
The diversity of the population worldwide suggests a great need for cross-culturally validated research instruments or scales. Researchers and clinicians must have access to reliable and valid measures of concepts of interest in their own cultures and languages to conduct cross-cultural research and/or provide quality patient care. Although there are well-established methodological approaches for translating, adapting and validating instruments or scales for use in cross-cultural health care research, a great variation in the use of these approaches continues to prevail in the health care literature. Therefore, the objectives of this scholarly paper were to review published recommendations of cross-cultural validation of instruments and scales, and to propose and present a clear and user-friendly guideline for the translation, adaptation and validation of instruments or scales for cross-cultural health care research.


METHODS
A review of highly recommended methodological approaches to translation, adaptation and cross-cultural validation of research instruments or scales was performed. Recommendations were summarized and incorporated into a seven-step guideline. Each one of the steps was described and key points were highlighted. Example of a project using the proposed steps of the guideline was fully described.


CONCLUSIONS
Translation, adaptation and validation of instruments or scales for cross-cultural research is very time-consuming and requires careful planning and the adoption of rigorous methodological approaches to derive a reliable and valid measure of the concept of interest in the target population.
Sousa
Valmi D
VD
The University of Kansas School of Nursing, Kansas City, Kansas, USA. vsousa@kumc.edu
Rojjanasrirat
Wilaiporn
W
D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating