The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of translation guidelines for the Role Checklist Version 2: Quality of Performance. This study aimed to answer the following questions: Are the proposed translation guidelines feasible for implementation? What is the utility of the proposed translation guidelines to produce a reliable and valid translated assessment? It was hypothesized that the translation guidelines would be both useful and feasible in the process of translating the Role Checklist Version 2 into Icelandic and Mandarin.

There were no standards of best practice for translating the Role Checklist Version 2. An increase in global collaboration among occupational therapists underscores the importance of developing universal translation guidelines that allow for the reproducibility of assessments into many languages while maintaining the original reliability and validity. Without guidelines, translated assessments lack comparable validity and reliability and produce data that cannot be compared across cultures. A multinational taskforce developed translation guidelines for the Role Checklist Version 2.

Establishing valid translation guidelines will enable practitioners and researchers around the world to collect and compare similar data that could lead to valuable insights about international trends in role participation. This descriptive study describes the translation process of the Role Checklist Version 2 into Icelandic and Mandarin. Feasibility and utility are evaluated qualitatively through feedback by therapists and clients.

International partners in Iceland and China each recruited 5 occupational therapists, who each administered the Role Checklist Version 2 to 5 clients in their respective languages. Thus, a total of 10 occupational therapists and 50 patients were included in the study. Both therapists and clients completed a questionnaire after the administration. This questionnaire asks questions regarding therapist and client experience with the Role Checklist Version 2. Data from the client and therapist questionnaires were coded into themes to determine feasibility and utility of the translation guidelines to produce a valid and reliable translated assessment. Therapists found issues with the translation guidelines that required further detail and explanation. The process of translation also required clarification. Therapists tried to overthink the already-developed standardized assessment.

The data analyzed thus far do support that the proposed translation guidelines will produce valid and reliable assessments. Data indicating the feasibility and utility of the translation guidelines would support formally publishing the proposed translation guidelines to be used as universal best practice for the translation of the Role Checklist Version 2.

Establishing best practice for the cross-cultural translation of occupational therapy assessments will allow for increased global collaboration and create a uniform practice that would ensure the reliability and validity of translated assessments.

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Scott, P. J., McFadden, R., Yates, K., Baker, S., & McSoley, S. (2014). The Role Checklist V2: QP: Establishment of reliability and validation of electronic administration. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 77, 96–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.4276/030802214X13916969447272