Development and linguistic validation of the German "Multidimensional Impact of Cancer Risk Assessment" (MICRA)...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Genetics
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Hereditary cancer syndromes require adapted therapy and preventive measures.
• Genetic testing for cancer risk can cause significant psychosocial stress.
• Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are crucial for assessing this stress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a linguistically validated German version of the MICRA questionnaire.
• To explore the utility of AI translation tools in the validation process.
• To provide a reliable tool for assessing psychosocial impact in German-speaking populations undergoing genetic risk assessment.

Main Methods:

• Linguistic validation followed the FACIT methodology, including forward and back-translations and expert review.
• Cognitive debriefing interviews were conducted with 10 individuals undergoing genetic counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.
• AI translation tools (ChatGPT-4o, DeepL) were compared with human translation for specific items.

Main Results:

• A German MICRA version was successfully developed and demonstrated good understanding among participants.
• No participants required assistance, and minor issues did not necessitate changes.
• AI tools missed nuances, highlighting the need for human oversight in complex translations.

Conclusions:

• The study provides the first linguistically validated German MICRA questionnaire.
• This tool is valuable for assessing psychosocial outcomes in genetic counseling and research.
• AI shows promise as a supportive tool but cannot replace expert human review in nuanced translation tasks.