In order to assure the technical, linguistic and conceptual equivalence of health measures, a number of international evidence-based protocols have been developed to guide the translation process. These include:
Many of these protocols share common elements which form a series of systematic steps for translating health measures effectively. These common elements include forward and back translation, consensus review and cognitive testing, see the table below.
Number | Step | Description | Personnel |
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1 | Preparation | Securing permissions, clarifying concepts, establishing project team and establishing timetable |
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2 | Forward Translation | Translation of the original language (source) version of the instrument into another language (target) |
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3 | Forward Translation Review | Comparing and merging more than one forward translation into a single forward translation |
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4 | Back Translation | Translation of the new language version bach into the original language. |
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5 | Back Translation Review | Comparison of the back-translated version of the instrument with the original to highlight and investigate discrepancies between the original and its derivative translations, as well as to achieve a consistent approach to translation problems. |
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6 | Cognitive Testing | Testing the instrument on a small group of 8 - 12 relavant patients / lay respondents in order to test alternative wording and to check understanding, intepretation and cultural relevance of the tanslation. |
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7 | Cognitive Testing Review | Comparison of the patients' / lay persons' interpretation of the translation with the original version to highlight and amend discrepancies |
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8 | Final Review | final review of the translation to highlight and correct any typographic, grammatical or other errors. |
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9 | Report and Authorisation | Report writing at the end of the process documenting the development of each translation and establishing the authority of the final lanuage version of the measure |
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