Expressed emotion measure adaptation into a foreign language.

Area of Science:

• Psychological assessment
• Cross-cultural psychology
• Clinical research methodology

Background:

• Expressed emotion (EE) measures are primarily developed in English, posing challenges for cross-cultural adaptation.
• Accurate assessment of EE is crucial for understanding family dynamics in various clinical contexts.
• Existing EE measures require validation in non-English speaking populations to ensure trans-cultural validity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt the Five-Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) into French, ensuring high-quality adaptation and trans-cultural validity.
• To develop and implement a systematic procedure for adapting EE measures across languages.
• To enhance the reliability and applicability of the FMSS in French-speaking populations.

Main Methods:

• A three-phase strategy was employed to adapt and validate the French version of the FMSS.
• Inter-rater agreement was assessed using kappa (κ) coefficients at each phase.
• Statistical comparison of agreement scores, including a bootstrap procedure, was used to evaluate improvements.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in inter-rater agreement were observed after the adaptation procedure (p < 0.05).
• The French adaptation demonstrated enhanced reliability compared to initial ratings.
• The implemented strategy effectively improved the agreement between French-language raters.

Conclusions:

• The systematic adaptation procedure significantly enhanced the inter-rater reliability of the French FMSS.
• This validated adaptation facilitates the trans-cultural use of the FMSS in French-speaking contexts.
• The methodology provides a robust framework for adapting other psychological measures across languages.