Using health-related quality of life measures in minority ethnic groups An approach to translating measures into Bengali (Sylheti)

Abstract

Objectives: To describe an approach to the adaptation and qualitative evaluation of existing generic and disease-specific health outcome measures for use with Bengali (Sylheti) speaking patients with asthma. Sylheti is a Bengali dialect with no written form.

Methods: We developed a Bengali (Sylheti) translation of an outcomes interview for use during a randomised controlled trial in East London. The outcomes interview comprised five validated health-related quality of life scales: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the AQ20, the Hilton/Sibbald asthma self-management questionnaire, the North of England asthma symptom scale, and the EuroQol EQ-5D. An initial translation was developed using a range of sources. Further linguistic validation was carried out by a comparison of the Sylheti translation with the English original by a lay and expert panel to establish technical, conceptual, content, and semantic equivalence.

Results: The translation and validation process identified a range of issues concerning technical, content, conceptual, and semantic equivalence. The main difficulties surrounded the translation of emotional concepts and the achievement of conceptual equivalence.

Conclusion: The adapted measures met a number of the criteria required for their use in a cross-cultural setting. Quantitative work is needed to establish the full extent of the functional equivalence of the measures.

Key Words:

• asthma
• quality of life
• Bengali
• translation