A new tool for assessing the cultural adaptation of cognitive tests: demonstrating the utility of the Manchester Translation Evaluation Checklist (MTEC) through the Mini-Mental State Examination Urdu

Abstract

Background Low- and middle-income countries contribute to the majority of dementia and mild cognitive impairment cases worldwide, yet cognitive tests for diagnosis are designed for Western cultures. Language and cultural discrepancies mean that translated tests are not always reliable or valid. We propose a model for culturally adapting cognitive tests, one step of which is to assess the quality of any translation and cultural adaptation undertaken. We developed the Manchester Translation Evaluation Checklist (MTEC) to act as a tool for quality assessment and demonstrated its use by assessing a popular cognitive test that had been adapted. Aims Assess quality of the translation and cultural adaptation of the Urdu Mini-Mental State Examination developed for a Pakistani population. Method Two raters completed the MTEC for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) Urdu and compared feedback. All authors were fluent in English and Urdu and familiar with Pakistani culture. Results Raters had 78.5% agreement across the MTEC. The MMSE Urdu was appropriately translated and retained grammar and verb tense, but three questions had spelling errors. Across 20 MMSE questions, 5 required further cultural adaptation because the questions were not understandable in daily use, comfortable to answer, relevant to the language and culture, and relevant to original concepts. Conclusions The MTEC highlighted errors in the MMSE Urdu and demonstrated how this tool can be used to improve it. Future studies could employ the MTEC to improve existing translated measures of health assessment, particularly cognitive tests, and act as a quality check when developing new adaptations of tests and before psychometric validation.

The Effect of Translation and Cultural Adaptations on Diagnostic Accuracy and Test Performance in Dementia Cognitive Screening Tools: A Systematic Review

“…In addition, the quality of the cultural adaptation of the cognitive tests plays a role. Namely, the test should not only account for the language and culture of the person being assessed but should also maintain the integrity of the concepts being assessed [ 55 ]. It is necessary to bear in mind that some tests will be more influenced by education than others (e.g., MMSE versus RUDAS) due to the construct of the tests and certain items that may be more problematic for diverse populations such as verbal fluency tasks in those with lower levels of literacy.…”