Systematic review of the reliability and validity of translated interview measures of psychotic symptoms

BACKGROUND: Semi/Structured interview measures of psychotic symptoms are often translated for use in non-English speaking populations. These vary widely in quality and reported psychometric properties. OBJECTIVE: The evidence for the reliability and validity of translated measures is systematically reviewed using identified quality criteria. METHOD: Studies were identified through systematic searches of PsychINFO, Medline, Embase with follow-up manual searches. Only studies published in English were included. RESULTS: Twenty three studies utilising 11 different semi/structured interview measures were identified. Ten studies reported adequate psychometric properties of the translated measures. Nine had mixed reports and 4 reported poor psychometric properties. European languages (Italian, Spanish, German and French) are well represented, together with reasonable availability for Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese). CONCLUSION: This review highlighted a large gap in published research of translated measures for psychosis—though this is a rapidly changing field. Many cultures and languages are omitted (particularly non-European), or may face difficulties with semantic equivalence.