Measurement properties of the PBC-40 and PBC-27: a Dutch validation study

ObjectivePatients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) have an impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Practice guidelines recommend evaluating the HRQoL in all patients with PBC. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of our Dutch translation of the PBC-40, a PBC-specific measure of the HRQoL.DesignThe PBC-40 was translated into Dutch following standardised forward–backward procedures. Participants received the Dutch PBC-40 and the RAND-36 (a validated Dutch version of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey) through postal mail. The PBC-27 is an abridged version of the PBC-40. Internal consistency between the items within the PBC-40/PBC-27 domains was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha. In addition, score distributions were analysed on floor and ceiling effects. Construct validity was assessed by hypotheses testing using Pearson’s correlation between the PBC-40/PBC-27 domains and RAND-36 scales.Results177 patients with PBC were included. The mean age was 61.1 (SD 9.9) years and the majority of patients was female (n=164, 92.7%). From the 7080 PBC-40 items, 61 items (0.9%) were missing and 342 items (4.8%) were answered with the ‘does not apply’ option. Each PBC-40 domain had a Cronbach’s α of >0.70, with the highest in the domain fatigue (0.95). For the PBC-27, the lowest Cronbach’s α was 0.69. Floor effects were present in three domains (cognition 19.3%, itch 27.0% and social 25.0% (only for PBC-27)). No ceiling effects were observed. All domains were significantly correlated with the corresponding RAND-36 scale(s) (p<0.001 for all). The strongest correlation was between the PBC-40 domain fatigue and the RAND-36 vitality scale (r=−0.834).ConclusionOur findings demonstrate the reliability and validity of the Dutch PBC-40 and PBC-27 for the assessment of the HRQoL in patients with PBC. This PBC-specific measure can be used in Dutch-speaking patients with PBC for both research and clinical purposes.

Specific features of Russian language varieties in “Zuleikha opens her eyes” by G. Yakhina and their translation into French and Dutch

This research deals with the specific features of socially based varieties of the Russian language, namely prostorechie and prison jargon, used in Zuleikha Opens her Eyes by G. Yakhina and their translation into French and Dutch. The identified translation techniques included sociolinguistic equivalence, partial equivalence, standardization, calque and adaptation. The analysis revealed that the dominant strategy used to convey the elements of sub-standard Russian varieties into English is standardization. However, its use varies subject to the combination between the source language variety and the target language. In the Dutch translation, this technique is employed to translate 52% of argotic lexical units and 44% of prostorechie elements, i.e. about half of all the cases. This dominance is not so strong in the French translation — 11% of argotic lexical units and 42% of prostorechie elements, i.e. about more than a quarter of all the cases. As for argotic lexical units, translators recur to different techniques. In 41% of cases, both of them opt for partial equivalence, but argotic equivalents abound in French (47%), contrary to Dutch (6%). Standardization is used for 11% of cases in French, and for 53% of cases in Dutch. The translator into Dutch recurs to argotic lexical units in order to render 10% of prostorechie elements. Calques are used to render language errors, and rimes are conveyed through adaptation.

Validation of the Italian version of the Myasthenia Gravis Impairment Index (MGII)

Objective To validate the Italian version of the Myasthenia Gravis Impairment Index (MGII). Introduction MGII is a recent promising measure developed for MG patient evaluation. It includes a clinical severity evaluation and a patient-reported questionnaire. It has been developed in English and has demonstrated feasibility, reliability, and construct validity. Recently, its Dutch translation has been validated. Methods MGII was translated to Italian with a multi-step forward process. We assessed correlations with the following scores: Istituto Nazionale Carlo Besta score for Myasthenia Gravis (INCB-MG), the MG Activities of Daily Living (MG-ADL), the Myasthenia Gravis Composite (MGC), the Quality of Life 15 for Myasthenia Gravis (QOL15-MG), and the Myasthenia Gravis Disability (MGDIS). We also assessed differences in MGII scores by disease severity with the ANOVA Kruskal–Wallis test. Results One hundred forty-one patients were enrolled. The mean MGII total score was 13.3 ± 11.9 (range 0–49), with a mean ocular subscore of 3.7 ± 4.7 and a mean MGII generalized subscore of 9.6 ± 9.0. As expected, the MGII had a good correlation with the other severity scores. The MGII had a lower floor effect (3.5%) than the other measures. Twenty-five patients were assessed in follow-up; as expected, the MGII change scores had moderate correlations with change in other MG severity measures and lower correlations with quality of life measures. Conclusions The MGII score was cross-culturally validated in an Italian cohort of MG patients. We confirmed its lower floor effect and the correlations with other MG measures including INCB-MG that was not evaluated in previous studies.

Measuring nurses’ moral courage: an explorative study

Background: The 21-item Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale was developed and validated in 2018 in Finland with the purpose of measuring moral courage among nurses. Objectives: The objective of this study was to make a Dutch translation of the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale to describe the level of nurses’ self-assessed moral courage and associated socio-demographic factors in Flanders, Belgium. Research design: A forward–backward translation method was applied to translate the English Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale to Dutch, and a pilot study was conducted to improve readability and understandability. A non-experimental, descriptive cross-sectional exploratory design was used to conduct a survey. Descriptive analysis was used. Participants: The data were collected from a convenience sample of 559 nurses from two hospitals in Flanders. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was obtained from the university ethics committee, permission to conduct the study was obtained from the participating hospitals. Participants received a guide letter and gave their informed consent. Findings: The readability and understandability of the Dutch Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale were positively evaluated, and the scale revealed a good level of internal consistency for the total scale (α = .914) and all subscales. Nurses’ mean score of the 21-item Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale was 3.77 (standard deviation = 0.537). The total Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale score was associated with age (p < .001), experience (p < .001), professional function (p = .002), level of education (p = .002) and personal interest (p < .001). Discussion and Conclusion: The Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale was successfully translated to Dutch. The Flemish nurses perceived themselves as morally courageous, especially when they were in a direct interpersonal relationship with their patients. Acting courageously in ethical dilemmas that involved other actors or organizations appeared to be more challenging. The results strongly suggest the important role of education and ethical leadership in developing and supporting this essential virtue in nursing practice.

Dutch Translation of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire | Nederlandstalige vertaling van de Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire

This Dutch translation of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) was translated from the original English version. An initial translation from English to Dutch was conducted and refined by the authorship team. These Dutch items were then back-translated into English by a NAATI approved translator. Minor refinements to some of the Dutch items were made by the authorship team on the basis of this back-translation, resulting in the final Dutch version of the PAQ presented in this document. Our team is currently conducting a psychometric study on this Dutch PAQ to examine its validity and reliability. Deze Nederlandstalige vertaling van de Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) is vertaald vanuit de oorspronkelijke Engelse versie. Een eerste vertaling van het Engels naar het Nederlands werd uitgevoerd en verfijnd door het auteursteam. Deze Nederlandstalige items werden vervolgens terugvertaald naar het Engels door een door NAATI erkende vertaler. Op basis van deze hervertaling zijn door het auteursteam kleine verfijningen aangebracht in enkele Nederlandstalige items, wat heeft geleid tot de definitieve Nederlandstalige versie van de PAQ die in dit document wordt gepresenteerd. Ons team voert momenteel een psychometrische studie uit op deze Nederlandstalige PAQ om de validiteit en betrouwbaarheid te onderzoeken.

Validation of the Dutch Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q-NL)

Camouflaging behavior is defined as using strategies to hide autistic characteristics. In the present study, we investigate the psychometric properties of a self-report questionnaire measuring camouflaging behavior: the Dutch translation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q-NL). In total, 674 individuals (of which 356 autistic) aged 30 to 92, filled out the CAT-Q-NL and the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). In addition, we administered the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) in a subsample of 90 autistic adults. We executed preregistered analyses (AsPredicted #37800) to investigate the factor structure, measurement invariance, internal consistency and group differences. Convergent validity was assessed by comparing the CAT-Q-NL to the discrepancy between the AQ and ADOS-2. We found an acceptable fit for the original three-factor structure and sufficient to good internal consistency for total and factor scores. However, we did not find measurement invariance between autistic and non-autistic individuals. Correlations between CAT-Q-NL-scores and the discrepancy between AQ and ADOS-2 varied between low to mediocre (r = .04 to .28). Therefore, more research is needed into the convergent validity of the CAT-Q-NL. We conclude that the CAT-Q-NL can be used to measure camouflaging behavior within and between autistic individuals, but not between autistic and non-autistic individuals.

Een toeristische brochure: een oefening in persuasieve teksten

Persuasive documents are defined as documents that transfer the information to the reader with the purpose of influencing their attitude. Travel brochures, like the brochure of the city of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, also belong to this category. Since tourism plays an important role in Croatia’s economy and since every year the number of Dutch speaking tourists visiting Zagreb is growing, a two-part study was conducted to test whether the Dutch translation of the brochure fulfils its purpose, i.e. whether it is convincing or not. The first part of the study was carried out using Hoeken’s (Het ont­werp van overtuigende teksten) pros-and-cons method. Six subjects participated in the study: three from the Netherlands and three from Flanders, Belgium. The second part of the study consists of authors’ analysis of the brochure based on Hoeken’s method as well. Finally, advice is given on how the brochure could be improved.