Portuguese translation and cultural adaptation of the Music in Dementia Assessment Scales (MiDAS)

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Music in Dementia Assessment Scales (MiDAS) is an observational, dementia-specific, visual analogue scale, developed to measure musical experiences of patients with dementia (PwD). It was derived from qualitative data from focus groups and interviews with PwD, carers, care home staff, and music therapists. Since its publication, there has been great interest in using MiDAS in several European countries, including Portugal. However, no adaptation to Portuguese language and culture is yet available. In this manuscript, we aim to describe the process of translation and cultural adaptation of MiDAS to European Portuguese, presenting the final MiDAS-PT version.

Method

We have followed a rigorous 10-step approach, consisting of: a preparation stage; elaboration of two forward translations; synthesis of the latter versions; back-translation by a bilingual professional translator; revision of that version by the original author of MiDAS; harmonization with other versions of MiDAS in different languages; testing and debriefing of the final version with volunteer health professionals; consensus meetings; proofreading; and, finally, the reporting of the process.

Results

No major changes have been made to the actual content text of MiDAS. Some minor adjustments were made to the wording, and additional instruction details were added in order to increase clarity and adequacy in the Portuguese setting.

Discussion

Overall, Portuguese health professionals considered the instrument to be user-friendly and intuitive in terms of content, structure and layout. To allow the use of MiDAS-PT for research and clinical purposes, the next step will be a study of its psychometric properties.

KEYWORDS:

• Behavioral rating scales
• dementia
• music therapy
• translation
• treatment outcomes

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the authors of the Spanish Version of MiDAS (Lourdes Forn Villanova and Sergi Muñiz) for their collaboration in the homogenization process and Becky Dowson for proofreading the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

Orii McDermott is Associate Editor of the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy. To avoid conflict of interest, Orii McDermott was fully masked to the editorial process including peer review and editorial decisions and had no access to records of this manuscript.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this study.

Notes on contributors

Lídia Sousa

Lídia Sousa, MD, Integrated Master in Medicine (2012) – Faculty of Medicine of Porto University – PT; Consultant Psychiatrist at Centro Hospitalar de Póvoa do Varzim/Vila do Conde – PT; PhD candidate at Faculty of Medicine of Porto University – PT; member of the INTERDEM ACADEMY for early-career researchers; member of the Institute of Mental-Health (IMH) - Nottingham–Nottingham, UK; CINTESIS – University of Porto collaborator.

Bárbara Moura

Bárbara Moura, MD, Integrated Master in Medicine (2015) – Faculty of Medicine of Porto University – PT; Psychiatry Resident at Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho – PT (2017–present); Master’s Degree student at Faculty of Medicine of Porto University – PT (2019–present). Postgraduate training in clinical research methodology from the Faculty of Medicine at Porto University (2018) and in cognitive behavioral therapy at CESPU (2019). Collaborated with the Psychotherapy and Research Working Groups of the European Federation of Psychiatry Trainees (2018–2020).

Orii McDermott

Lia Fernandes, MD, PhD, Associate Professor with Aggregation, Faculty of Medicine of Porto University – PT; Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Mental Health; Psychiatrist with Geriatric Competence; Senior Graduate Assistant – Clinic of Psychiatry and Mental Health at Centro Hospitalar S. João – PT; Researcher of CINTESIS-UP. Professor Fernandes is an experienced researcher in old age psychiatry, with many publications in high-impact factor journals (author of 8 books, 21 chapters, 95 articles, 258 abstracts, and with 258 oral presentations and 131 posters). She is a researcher member of the following international networks: INTERDEM/Early, Timely and Quality Psychosocial Interventions in Dementia, EHDN/European Huntington’s Disease Network, IBERDEM/Iberoamerican Center of Research in Prevention and Rehabilitation of Alzheimer's and Other Dementias, AGE Platform Europe and Porto4Ageing consortium – Oporto Excellence Center on Active and Healthy Ageing. She has also been teaching in other universities (psychology, nursing and social education) as well as in postgraduation for general practitioners.

Lia Fernandes

Orii McDermott, PhD, BA, Senior Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, UK, Doctoral Program in Music Therapy, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark. Dr Orii McDermott specialized in dementia psychosocial research: particularly in music therapy and music-based interventions, outcome measure development and evaluation. She is a registered music therapist and continues to work as a clinician at Central and North-West London NHS Foundation Trust. She is a member of INTERDEM (early detection and timely intervention in dementia) and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Music Therapy. She holds the following research grants: The Velux Foundation Human Science Research, Denmark (2015–2019) £5,680,500; Person Attuned Musical Interaction in Dementia Care – (Ridder (PI), McDermott, Ingstrup-Anders, Madsen). National Institute of Health Research Capability Funding, National Health System Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group (2018) £23,939.