Community participatory translation processes for mental health screening among refugees and forced migrants.

Abstract

Community participatory translation approaches combining professional translation with iterative back-and-forth expert committee consensus processes ensure cultural equivalency, accuracy, and clarity of meaning in translation. Although these standard methodological processes for instrument translation are established, they are often overlooked in some health-care settings when serving diverse populations. We present preliminary results from the Pathways to Wellness project translation process for the Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15), an instrument developed as a valid screener for anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder among refugee groups. The development process for the RHS-15 ensured that the best combination of items from refugee experiences were selected to enhance transcultural validity, reliability, and accessibility. We share two language-mapping diagrams from Somali and Russian languages in the process of translating the RHS-15, describe pilot testing procedures among a Haitian Creole translation group, and illustrate the linguistic, cultural specificity, and clarity achieved through community consensus-based translation as best practice.

A Scoping Review of Instruments Used in Measuring Social Support among Refugees in Resettlement

“…Notably absent from studies assessing the CB-MSPSS, ESSI, BNLA, and RSSI were tests of concurrent validity, convergent validity, and comparison between known groups and the use of cognitive interviews to enhance content validity. While nearly all of the studies relied on forward and backward translation methods as an assessment of content validity, many consider consensus and group-based methods of translation to be more robust and accurate [ 92 , 93 ]. Except for the RSSI, these scales in use do not readily lend themselves to nuanced and holistic measurements of a complex construct with meanings specific to refugee resettlement.…”

Mental health problems and help-seeking behaviours of Syrian refugee adolescents: mediating role of self-stigma

“…Higher scores on the scale indicate better attitudes for general help-seeking (Wilson, Deane, & Ciarrochi, 2005). The scale was not originally available in Arabic, so it was translated into Arabic for this study using a translation-back translation procedure as described in previous studies (Epstein, Santo, & Guillemin, 2015;Verbillis-Kolp, Yotebieng, Farmer, Freidman, & Hollifield, 2023). In this study, we have used the GHSQ to identify the sources of help from which Syrian refugee adolescents seek help for their mental health problems and to determine their intention to seek help.…”

“…The Turkish translation, validity, and reliability study of the scale were first performed by Topkaya (2011). The scale was not originally available in Arabic, so it was translated into Arabic for this study using a back translation procedure as described in previous studies (Epstein et al, 2015;Verbillis-Kolp et al, 2023). In this study, we have used the SSOSH to identify the level of self-stigma of Syrian refugee adolescents for seeking psychological help.…”