Kulturelle und sprachliche Validierung des ODAS (EADO) Fragebogens – eines Instrumentes zur Beurteilung der Angemessenheit der Methadondosierung im Rahmen der Substitutionstherapie Opiatabhängiger

Abstract

CONTEXT: It is widely recognized in literature that the main factor influencing the effectiveness of the treatment of opiate dependence is the use of methadone at an „adequate” dose. It is also recognized that the pharmacological programmes that use higher average doses reach better results in terms of retention in treatment, decrease the consumption of heroin and reduce the severity of addiction. At individual level, however, the response to a particular dose of methadone can differ from patient to patient, because of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variability factors. As a result, therefore, each patient should be given the most appropriate dose of medication to ensure the best therapeutic efficacy. For this reason, the EADO (Escala de Adecuacion de Dosis de Opiaceos) was designed. Its purpose is to provide to the physician a systematic tool to define the concept of „adequate” dose. OBJECTIVE: To proceed with the translation and validation in the scientific and clinical German framework of the scale EADO, originally proposed in Spanish, and published in English under the name of Opiate Dosage Adequacy Scale (ODAS). METHOD: The procedure used for the translation and validation process has involved primarily two medical bilingual translators German/Spanish, one German mothertongue physician, and later a group of German experts in addiction, to assess clarity, intelligibility, univocity and shared terminology of ODAS scale, so that it could be brought to the German physicians community. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The work led to a validated German version of the questionnaire, as finally amended on the basis of the suggestions proposed by the working group. Intelligibility, univocity and shared terminology are adequately secured.