Translation Guidelines

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
1 Preparation Securing permissions, clarifying concepts, establishing project team and establishing timetable
  • Project Manager
  • Translation Consultant
  • Clinical Consultant
2 Forward Translation Translation of the original language (source) version of the instrument into another language (target)
  • Translator 1
  • Translator 2
3 Forward Translation Review Comparing and merging more than one forward translation into a single forward translation
  • Project Manager
  • Translation Consultant
  • Translator 1
  • Translator 2
4 Back Translation Translation of the new language version bach into the original language.
  • Translator 3
  • Translator 4 (optional)
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.
  • Project Manager
  • Translation Consultant
  • Translator 3
  • Translator 4
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.
  • Cognitive testing assessor
  • Patients / lay respondents
7 Cognitive Testing Review Comparison of the patients' / lay persons' interpretation of the translation with the original version to highlight and amend discrepancies
  • Project Manager
  • Translation Consultant
  • Clinical Consultant
8 Final Review final review of the translation to highlight and correct any typographic, grammatical or other errors.
  • Project Manager
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
  • Project Manager