Cross-cultural adaptation of the sensory profile: Establishing linguistic equivalency of the Hebrew version

In the process of translating assessment tools from one language to another, researchers often run the risk of altering the intended meaning of the test items, and consequently affecting the validity of the assessment tool. In this study, the accuracy of a Hebrew translation of the Sensory Profile (Dunn, 1999) was validated. A multi-step process, based on back-translation and the bilingual method was undertaken to examine whether the Hebrew translation was linguistically equivalent to the original Sensory Profile. Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to detect and explain inconsistencies in the translation. The analysis of the back-translation revealed that the discrepancies found in a number of items stemmed from inaccurate translation or back-translation, erroneous substitution, omission, or addition of words/phrases, and from substitution of words/phrases because there was no equivalent in the Hebrew language. Of the 59 back-translated items, which were not linguistically equivalent to the original Sensory Profile items, only 12 items generated inconsistent responses by the bilingual parents. Overall, the responses of the bilingual parents to the Hebrew and the English version were inconsistent in 26 of the 125 Sensory Profile items. The coefficient alpha values in all sections of the Hebrew version (except for section N) were above .70, indicating a good overall reliability. Based on proposed criteria, results indicate that the Hebrew translation of the Sensory Profile is accurate. Inconsistencies found in a number of items may relate to connotation effect, language effect, and measurement errors.