Linguistic validation of the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule into French, German and US English.

OBJECTIVE

Chronic leg wounds can represent a major health problem and have a negative emotional impact on patients' lives. The Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule (CWIS) was developed by the Wound Healing Research Unit at University of Wales College of Medicine to assess the quality of life in patients with chronic wounds.

METHOD

To perform the linguistic validation (translation) of the CWIS into German, French and US English as a first step in making the questionnaire available globally. The standard linguistic validation process employed by the Mapi Research Institute was used to translate the CWIS into French and German. An adjusted process was used for the US English translation.

RESULTS

The linguistic validation of the US English version was straightforward as it shares the same root language with the original UK version. The problems encountered in the French and German translations were mostly related to semantics and syntax.

CONCLUSION

The CWIS is now available for further validation testing by the international community (the psychometric evaluation of each translated questionnaire). These translations will be useful to health-care providers undertaking formal quality-of-life assessments of patients with chronic leg wounds.