ARE “LIVELY” AND “FULL OF PEP” SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT CONCEPTS? CHALLENGES IN TRANSLATING THESE TERMS IN SEVEN LANGUAGES
Author(s)
Gil-Campos I1, Anfray C1, Acquadro C2
1Mapi, Lyon, France, 2Mapi Research Trust, Lyon, France
Presentation Documents
OBJECTIVES Feeling “lively” or “full of pep” are common items used in PRO measures. The Profile of Mood States (POMS) identifies and assesses six fluctuating mood or affective states: 1) Tension-Anxiety, 2) Vigour-Activity, 3) Depression-Dejection, 4) Fatigue-Inertia, 5) Anger-Hostility, and 6) Confusion-Bewilderment. “Lively” (item 7) and “full of pep” (item 56) belong to the Vigor-Activity domain. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the difference in concept (if any) between these items and to translate them in 7 languages (Bulgarian, Estonian, French, German, Latvian, Portuguese and Slovakian). METHODS The POMS was translated following the Mapi methodology in compliance with the ISPOR guidelines. The process consisted of: 1) definition of each concept behind each item, 2) two forward translations by native translators, reconciliation of the translations, 3) one back-translation by an English-speaker fluent in the target language, 4) final reconciliation, and 5) cognitive interviews with 35 native-speaking healthy subjects (n=5 per country). RESULTS The first step of the translation process, i.e., definition of concepts, helped to clarify the conceptual differences between “lively” and “full of pep”. “Lively” had to be considered more as an action or behavior-based descriptor and “full of pep” as descriptive of the internal state. “Lively” was considered as the manifestation of feeling “full of pep”: With this definition in mind, each local team could find appropriate equivalents in each language. “Lively” was translated with literal wording in all languages. As for “full of pep”, translations varied from “enthusiastic” (Bulgarian, Portuguese) to “full of vitality” (Estonian, Slovakian) or “peppy” (German), “full of spirit” in French and “full of energy “in Latvian. The translations were well understood. CONCLUSIONS “Lively” and “full of pep” are two different concepts which could be easily translated with the help of the developers who provided clear definitions of the intent of each item.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2014-11, ISPOR Europe 2014, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Value in Health, Vol. 17, No. 7 (November 2014)
Code
PRM158
Topic
Methodological & Statistical Research
Topic Subcategory
PRO & Related Methods
Disease
Mental Health