Cross-cultural Adaptations of Mental Health Screening Tools: A Scoping Review

This scoping review explores the extent and ways in which mental health assessment tools have been culturally adapted to be fit for purpose in new contexts.

In this review, the majority of recent studies reporting cultural adaptations were conducted in the Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, and Western Pacific. Assessment tools were adapted to 31 target languages, most frequently Arabic, Chinese, Persian and Korean. Most studies reported following a published cultural adaptation guideline; many reported overall positive validation results. Some studies reported needing to make further modifications to the adapted tool during validation and many concluded that further testing was required to increase generalisability. This review found few adaptations of mental health assessment tools for use in African and Latin American countries, representing a significant evidence gap. More research is also needed to analyse the studies' rigour and fidelity to existing adaptation guidelines and to determine the sufficiency of current recommended procedures in achieving cultural equivalence.