Four patient-facing materials that you should pay close attention to

As the number of international trials increases, effective communication with patients faces the challenge of overcoming linguistic and cultural differences.

Translating patient-facing materials in a way that resonates with local audiences will boost patient recruitment and engagement and help educate patients, caregivers, and the general public.

Besides expertise in clinical research and familiarity with regulatory procedures, translating information aimed at clinical trial participants also requires linguistic proficiency and an understanding of both source and target cultures. In addition, factors such as the patients' education level, medical knowledge, or awareness of their body have to be taken into account.

Here are four types of patient-facing materials that you should pay close attention to:

1)?????(Pre-)Recruitment materials

Trial advertising and information materials should be linguistically and culturally adapted to the target country's language, as well as aimed at a population with multiple education levels and cultural backgrounds.

2)?????Informed Consent

Informed consent forms must follow a set of guidelines to ensure that patient rights are protected and that informed consent is obtained ethically.

3)?????Questionnaires and patient diaries

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) or quality of life (QoL) questionnaires and patient diaries must go through a linguistic validation and cultural adaptation process.

4)?????Lay summaries

Lay summaries share the trial findings, explaining why the trial took place, what researchers found, and how it changes the way a condition is treated. Translations must be not only accurate and complete but also brief and non-technical.

Want to know more about this?

This article is an abbreviated version of a post I recently published on the Med & Mark Blog, where Ana Catarina Lopes and I write about a variety of topics related to medical and marketing translation. Read the full version here.

Ana Sofia Correia is an English to Portuguese medical translator and writer based in Portugal. For the past fourteen years, she has worked with Life Sciences companies, Contract Research Organizations, Language Service Providers, and Medical Communication agencies translating and writing content for clinical trials, medical devices, regulatory submissions, education materials, and marketing campaigns. After 12 years working as an in-house translator at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra and the Nursing School of Coimbra, she became a full-time freelancer in 2019. She is a member of the Board of Directors of APTRAD (where she also is a Mentor) and TREMéDICA. Whether she is translating or writing, her goal is to support her clients as they make treatments and information available to Portuguese-speaking patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and the general population.?