Cultural adaptation of communication interventions (Albin et al., 2022)

Purpose: Parent-implemented early communication interventions are commonly delivered to culturally and linguistically diverse families. Although there is evidence from fields such as public health or psychology, there is little guidance regarding what elements to culturally adapt for parent-implemented speech-language pathology interventions. This scoping review addresses this gap by identifying parent-implemented early communication interventions that have been culturally adapted and describing which intervention components were adapted. Definitions of culture, use of adaptation frameworks, and adaptation guidelines, policies, and recommendations are also reported.

Method: The databases Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase via OVID were searched. Supplementary search methods, including hand-searching of references and a gray literature search, were also conducted. Covidence software was used to deduplicate, collate, and review articles. Population, intervention, study, and cultural adaptation data were extracted and synthesized using the Ecological Validity Framework.

Results: Twenty-one articles were included from the database and supplementary searches. No studies defined culture, and only three used cultural adaptation models or frameworks to guide adaptation. Studies varied greatly in what they adapted; language adaptations, such as translation, were conducted most frequently, and intervention goals were rarely adapted. Only three studies obtained parent feedback to inform cultural adaptation for future recommendations. 

Conclusions: More clarity in the reporting of cultural adaptation for communication interventions is required. Cultural adaptation frameworks are useful tools to guide adaptation but can be difficult to operationalize. Additional research in this area is necessary to help clinicians provide culturally responsive, parent-implemented communication interventions.

Supplemental Material S1. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) Checklist. 

Supplemental Material S2. Search terms from databases; inclusion and exclusion criteria. 

Albin, M., Micsinszki, S., & Phoenix, C. (2022). Cultural adaptation of parent-implemented early communication interventions: A scoping review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_AJSLP-21-00286