The Living with Medicines Questionnaire: Translation and Cultural Adaptation into the Arabic Context

Abstract

Background: The Living with Medicines Questionnaire (LMQ) was developed in English language to assess, from a patient's perspective, issues related to the burden resulting from the use of medicines.

Objectives: To translate and culturally adapt the LMQ into the Arabic language and context.

Methods: Permission to translate the LMQ was obtained from the original developers, and a protocol for its translation and cultural adaptation was developed using the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research guidelines for the translation and cultural adaptation of patient-reported outcome measures. Two forward translations (from English into Arabic) were developed and compared to produce the first reconciled version, which was back-translated into English. The resulting English version was compared with the original questionnaire leading to the second reconciled version. The emerged Arabic questionnaire was then cognitively tested among purposively selected individuals to assess the linguistic and cultural equivalence, and produce the final Arabic version.

Results: Issues identified and related to cultural and conceptual equivalence of some terms were resolved by rewording some items in the tool. The translation process and cognitive debriefing exercise generated comments regarding the original tool's construct and its Arabic equivalent, which were communicated to the developers of the LMQ for their consideration while conducting further comparative studies.

Conclusions: A culturally suitable translation of the LMQ was generated for potential use in research and clinical practice in Arabic-speaking countries. Further validation of the developed Arabic version is recommended and planned.

Keywords: cultural adaptation; medication burden; polypharmacy; questionnaire; translation.