Cultural translation: acceptability and efficacy of a US-based injury prevention intervention in China

Increased belt-positioning booster seat (BPB) awareness and access have led to increased use in the USA. Although transportation in Beijing is rapidly becoming 'motorised', Beijing's population has limited awareness of or access to BPBs.

To explore the efficacy and acceptability of using a US-developed BPB use promotion intervention in Beijing.

Methods were adapted from a previously executed US-based study involving parents of 3-8-year old children. Focus groups (five groups, 71 participants) elicited behavioural antecedents to BPB use and reactions to video interventions promoting BPB use: a Chinese-produced instructional video and an English-language (dubbed into Mandarin) video that delivered concrete, theoretically driven messages through a personal story. Immediately after the focus groups, participants were provided with education and a free BPB. Participants were contacted 6 weeks later via telephone about use, knowledge and attitudes.

Chinese parents saw safety as the most important benefit of BPB use; lack of accurate knowledge about and access to BPBs were parents' most prevalent barriers. Chinese participants described the videos as persuasive and instructional. At 6 weeks, participants remembered the messages of the English-language video, and reported BPB use increased from a baseline of 15.5% to 85.5%.

This study shows the possibility of exporting US-designed prevention interventions dubbed into Mandarin without the need to alter their original context (in this case, an African American family in a US setting) into a Chinese context. Successful cultural translation involved ensuring that the behavioural antecedents targeted in the intervention (eg, barriers and benefits) were of relevance to the Chinese population.