Abstract

The re-use of validated PROMs from one condition into a different condition is common. However, this is often done without understanding the conceptual model of the particular health issue that the PROM attempts to capture in the first population, nor its formulation in the new target population (face and content validity). Furthermore, there is often no attempt to explore psychometric evidence for validity in the new patient population (construct, criterion, sensitivity and reliability). Second, once a PROM has been developed in the initial language, there are instances when researchers simply translate the words, without considering cultural issues in the new population. The original PROM developers may not be involved in ensuring conceptual equivalence of the health issue between the old and new populations, let alone cultural transferability. These new translations need evaluating fot only for cultural and conceptual equivalence, but also psychometric validity. Such work has implications for cost and time, but there are good examples of robust and well-thought through translation protocols by either researchers or PROM translation companies. This presentation will explore these re-use issues and provide examples of good practice (or otherwise).