In the process of translating assessment tools from one language to another, researchers often run the risk of altering the intended meaning of the test items, and consequently affecting the validity of the assessment tool. In this study, the accuracy of a Hebrew translation of the Sensory Profile (Dunn, 1999) was validated. A multi-step process, based on back-translation and the bilingual method was undertaken to examine whether the Hebrew translation was linguistically equivalent to the original Sensory Profile. Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to detect and explain inconsistencies in the translation. The analysis of the back-translation revealed that the discrepancies found in a number of items stemmed from inaccurate translation or back-translation, erroneous substitution, omission, or addition of words/phrases, and from substitution of words/phrases because there was no equivalent in the Hebrew language. Of the 59 back-translated items, which were not linguistically equivalent to the original Sensory Profile items, only 12 items generated inconsistent responses by the bilingual parents. Overall, the responses of the bilingual parents to the Hebrew and the English version were inconsistent in 26 of the 125 Sensory Profile items. The coefficient alpha values in all sections of the Hebrew version (except for section N) were above.70, indicating a good overall reliability. Based on proposed criteria, results indicate that the Hebrew translation of the Sensory Profile is accurate. Inconsistencies found in a number of items may relate to connotation effect, language effect, and measurement errors.

The seven participants had a broad definition of the scope of their professional responsibilities and experienced difficulty defining the limits of their role. Caring is a central part of the occupational therapists' role; therefore, perceptions about caring are central to the role definition of occupational therapists.

This study evaluated levels of social competence of 90 female psychiatric patients as it relates to diagnosis and age of onset of illness. Subjects in three diagnostic categories were studied: non-paranoid schizophrenia, paranoid schizophrenia, and bipolar affective disorder. Measures of discriminant analysis and central tendency indicate that varying scores of sociability, social presence, and socialization are associated with specific diagnoses and ages of onset of psychosis, beyond expected levels of probability. The results of this research encourage examination of diagnosis, age of onset of psychosis, sociability, social presence, and socialization in determining the composition of heterogeneous and homogeneous psychosocial activities treatment groups in occupational therapy. Further studies are recommended to foster understanding of evaluation and treatment of social competence factors.

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