Language understanding and preferences when reporting symptoms for pediatric patients receiving cancer treatments and their guardians

The Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool (SSPedi) was developed to facilitate symptom assessment among pediatric patients receiving cancer treatments; limited translations are available. The objective was to describe, among non-English pediatric patients receiving cancer treatments and non-English guardians, the language in which they understood symptoms and their language preferences for SSPedi completion.

In this single-center study, we included patients receiving cancer treatments aged 8-18 years or guardians of patients 2-18 years with non-English first languages. A single interview was conducted where participants were asked whether they understood the words for each of the 15 SSPedi symptoms in their first language, English, or both. We also asked about the importance of SSPedi translation in their first language.

We included 50 pediatric patients and 155 guardians speaking 49 unique first languages. The number who knew a symptom only in their first language ranged from 2/50 (4.0%) to 6/50 (12.0%) for pediatric patients and ranged from 5/155 (3.2%) to 16/155 (10.3%) for guardians. In general, it was more common for pediatric patients to know a symptom only in English compared to guardians. The number who stated translation into their first language was very or extremely important was 16/50 (32.0%) for pediatric patients and 50/155 (32.2%) for guardians.

While most non-English patients and guardians understood SSPedi symptoms in English, some will require translation in their first language. Given the large number of languages, meeting the needs of those who require translation will require novel approaches.