Effects of method of translation of patient-reported health outcome questionnaires: a randomized study of the translation of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Life (RAQoL) Instrument for Sweden.
To compare two versions of a questionnaire translated using forward-backward (FB) translation and dual-panel (DP) methodologies regarding preference of wording and psychometric properties.
The Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Life instrument was adapted into Swedish by two independent groups using FB and DP methodologies, respectively. Seven out of thirty resulting items were identical. Nonidentical items were evaluated regarding preference of wording by 23 bilingual Swedes, 50 people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and 2 lay panels (n = 11). Psychometric performance was assessed from a postal survey of 200 people with RA randomly assigned to complete one version first and the other 2 weeks later.
Preference did not differ among the 23 bilinguals (P = 0.196), whereas patients and lay people preferred DP over FB item versions (P