Translation and validation of an instrument for measuring the suitability of health educational materials in Taiwan: suitability assessment of materials.

Background: It is essential to provide readily comprehensible health information to the public to increase healthy behaviors and improve outcomes. Researchers in English-speaking countries possess well-developed instruments to evaluate the suitability of health education materials. However, few of these instruments are available for use in Chinese-language environments.

Purpose: This study aimed to translate the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) into Chinese. Researchers used a rigorous translation and testing process to provide a valid instrument to evaluate the suitability of health education materials written in Chinese.

Methods: The translation process included forward- and back-translations and a test for translation equivalence that evaluated semantic and content equivalence. A panel discussion was held on the discrepancies between the original English and back-translated English versions. The content validity index was calculated to confirm the validity of the SAM Chinese version. Two raters used the Chinese-version SAM to evaluate seven health education handouts. A Cohen's kappa coefficient was calculated to estimate interrater agreement, and Cronbach's alpha assessed the internal consistency of the instrument.

Results: Discussions on the differences between the original English and initially translated Chinese versions of the SAM resulted in a final 22-item SAM Chinese version. The content validity index of the final Chinese-language SAM scale was .99, the Cohen's kappa coefficient of agreement was .25, and the Cronbach's alpha value was .91.

Conclusions/implications For Practice: The SAM Chinese version is a valid and reliable instrument with potential use in evaluating the suitability of health education materials written in Chinese.