Pain questionnaires: Linguistic aspects of translation into Russian language

Abstract

The questionnaires used in the practice of recognition and treatment of pain are obviously important. They must be correctly composed from the medical, psychological and linguistic points of view. In Russia pain is measured with the help of scales translated from the English language. Sometimes the translation is not adequate, and the results obtained with the help of the questionnaires influence the results of the treatment. The materials for research were selected with the help of continuous sampling method, as well as according to the recommendations of clinicians. In the analysis of translated versions there were used the techniques of linguistic analysis on different language levels and the descriptive method. The authors revealed the most frequent mistakes in translation of pain questionnaires from the linguistic point of view and offered their own variants of translation. These findings further support the linguistic analysis, translation and creation of pain questionnaires. The results of the study can be used in clinical practice by neurologists and clinical linguists, especially for alexithymic patients, patients with speech disorders and other individuals with problems in communication.