Translation of Well-being Assessment Instruments in African Contexts: A Mapping Review and Future Directions

Abstract

A fundamental requirement for proper measurement of well-being in diverse contexts is the appropriate translation of well-being measures into the languages spoken by the specific population. This paper aims to identify measures of well-being that have been translated into African languages up to the year 2019 and make suggestions for researchers who are faced with the challenge of translating well-being instruments into local languages. Online databases were searched to identify published studies reporting the translation of well-being instruments into African languages. Some researchers were further contacted and requested to provide relevant studies. A total of 352 publications were retrieved and 44 translated measures met the inclusion criteria. Findings showed that all the translated African language versions of existing measures were published between 2006 and 2019. Although the published translations were increasingly widespread, the distribution of available studies was uneven, with very low published translation activity in East and North Africa and a preponderance of publications on translated instruments in South Africa. The authors suggest deriving population norms for relevant translations; increasing funding and other resources for translation projects; developing cross-national collaborations on translations; and making the translated versions of well-being instruments more accessible for use by other researchers.