Developing a culturally appropriate version of family management measure in Taiwan: a cognitive interviewing study

ABSTRACT

A measure concerning family management of children with chronic conditions is needed to identify the relationship between family management and family and child outcomes. This study aimed to use cognitive interviews to apply the Family Management Measure (FaMM) to Taiwanese families with children who have chronic conditions. When using a measure from other cultures, cultural adaption should be considered besides the language translation from foreign language to first language. Conducting a cognitive interviewing study is an efficient way to examine semantic equivalence and culture applicability of a measure. Our study involved cognitive interviews with 28 caregivers to develop the Family Management Measure Taiwanese Version (FaMM-TW). Through cognitive interviews, three types of problems in the initial translation version were identified. Four items were modified due to semantic problems. One language expression and three items with colloquial and idiomatic problems were rephrased. One item was revised for cultural and experiential reasons. Each modified item in the translated version was culturally adapted, but the key concepts in the original measure were still reserved. This paper shed light on the application of cognitive interviews to cross-culturally adapt the FaMM for Taiwanese participants with different family types.

KEYWORDS:

• Family management
• family management measure
• family management measure Taiwanese version
• cognitive interviews
• cross-cultural adaption

Acknowledgements

We deeply appreciate the participation of the family members of children who were interviewed in the study and the help of professionals who had referred them to participate in our study. We especially thank Dr. Knafl for her authorization for us to translate the FaMM into Taiwanese Mandarin and her clarification of our questions with patience during our research process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).