Spanish Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Consolidated Criteria for Reporting about Qualitative Research

Abstract

Introduction: Checklists for reporting about studies are a necessary resource for researchers and revisers; it is indispensable to have checklists in Spanish available for qualitative studies.

Objective: To carry out the Spanish translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist.

Methods: Five methodological phases were structured: translation, synthesis, back translation, pilot testing and delivery. Each was audited by an expert committee, which consolidated the different versions of the checklist and reached consensus. Inter-rater agreement and reliability were calculated.

Results: Both translation and back translation followed the methodological steps related to the equivalences of the original checklist. Ten qualitative research experts participated in the pilot test; their evaluations led to the improvement of 50 % (n = 16) of the domains and items of the checklist: 43.80 % (n = 7) in writing and 56.20 % (n = 9) in explanation. Then, with the revision from the expert committee, final adjustments were implemented in view of a high semantic equivalence; the concordance rating was 0.69 with Fleiss' Kappa and reliability was 0.88 with Cronbach's alpha.

Conclusions: A Spanish-translated version, together with a transcultural adaptation, was obtained for the (COREQ) checklist, which preserved the semantic, idiomatic, experimental and conceptual equivalences of the original version, useful for the development of qualitative research in health, since the (COREQ) checklist has positioned itself as a reference of methodological quality, taking into account that its application needs to be contextualized according to the typology and content of each research.