Translation and cultural adaptation of a Patient Perception of Arrhythmia Questionnaire in Poland.

Background: The Patient Perception of Arrhythmia Questionnaire (PPAQ) is a disease-specific questionnaire designed to measure symptoms and health-related quality of life in patients suffering from a group of arrhythmias collectively known as supraventricular tachycardias (SVT). There is no valid translation of PPAQ available in Poland, which hinders research in this area with Polish arrhythmia patients.
Aim: To conduct initial content validity testing through translation and cultural adaptation of the English language version of the PPAQ to the Polish language.
Methods: The whole project was conducted according to the ISPOR Principles of Good Practice for the Translation and Cultural Adaptation Process for Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO) Measures published in 2005.
Results: In 2011, the PPAQ was translated into Polish and cultural adaptation was performed on 20 patients with SVT (12 male, age 54.9 ± 17.4). Issues concerning the exact meanings of symptom names and language-dependant gender-related distinctions were identified. The former was solved by cooperation with experts in arrhythmia, and the latter by incorporating patients' preferences during cognitive debriefing.
Conclusions: The Polish translation was well accepted by patients during this translation and initial content validity testing. Issues arising during the translation process may recur in other translations and be resolved in a similar manner.