Quality of life research in adults with epilepsy in Japan

Quality of life (QOL) research in epilepsy is a relatively recent development, but the field has expanded rapidly over the past 10 to 15 years. This expansion has seen the development of many tools with which to measure QOL in specific psychosocial domains and treatment settings. However, to date the initial development of these tools has been in English. Tools are also necessary to assess the QOL of people with epilepsy in non-English-speaking countries. These tools can be produced in two ways: by developing original tools in the language spoken in the country of use, or by translating and validating tools originally published in English. The latter approach has the advantages of being more rapid and allowing cross-cultural comparisons. We have completed or are in the process of translating into Japanese and validating three QOL assessment tools: the Washington Psychosocial Seizure Inventory, the Side Effects and Life Satisfaction inventory, and the Quality of Life in Epilepsy questionnaire. In this article, the results of this process are reported and cross-cultural comparisons using some of these tools are made. In this way, some of the problems associated with translating and validating QOL assessment tools are illustrated, and differences and similarities in the psychosocial impact of epilepsy in different countries are highlighted.