A Hybrid Method for the Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Self-Report Measures

Cross-cultural adaptation of self-reported measures to other languages endeavors to enhance the validity and reliability of the instrument for the local population. Traditionally, qualified academicians or language experts performed the translation task, but nowadays, various online translation tools are available for the same. The present study intends to compare the validity of traditional and online modes of translation of self-reported measures, and to develop a hybrid method by combining the traditional and online methods to achieve an accurate translation cost-effectively. For this purpose, the existing English version of shame and stigma scale was translated into the Hindi language traditionally by language experts, Google translator, and by a hybrid method. The validity of translated versions was tested using the content validity index (CVI). The CVI score was found to be 0.94 for the traditional method, which is significantly higher compared to the online translation method in which the CVI score was 0.42. CVI score in the hybrid method comes to be 0.84. The present study suggests that the online translation method alone is insufficient for the accurate translation of questionnaires and, therefore, it is recommended that hybrid method should be followed for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures to impart high accuracy in a cost-effective manner.