Cross-cultural translation, adaptation and validation of the consultation and relational empathy (Care) scale into Hindi among spinal cord injury population

Abstract

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The treatment outcome is influenced by the relationship between health care providers and patients. So far, there is no validated tool/scale in Hindi which can be used in the Indian population to gather data on empathy and holistic care provided by the healthcare professionals during their consultation. The primary goal of the study is to translate and cross-culturally adapt the CARE scale to Hindi. Also, to determine its content validity and reliability so that further research can be done on the Hindi speaking Spinal Cord Injury population. METHODS: The study was conducted in three phases, namely Translation-Cultural Adaptation, Content Validity, & Reliability. The CARE measure was translated into Hindi and qualitative and quantitative content validation through the expert opinion and the content validity ratio (CVR) method was tested on a purposive sample of 30 spinal cord injury (SCI) individuals in two rehabilitation centres in New Delhi, India. Item analysis was conducted (on 50 SCI individuals) to determine internal consistency reliability. RESULTS: The Hindi CARE measure high has high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.924). CVR and qualitative review done by the panels of experts validated the content of the CARE measure. CONCLUSION: The CARE measure- Hindi version is a validated and reliable tool to be used in Hindi speaking Spinal Cord Injury population context. Further work is required to establish test-retest reliability and studies on bigger sample size.