24 - Breaking Down Language Barriers: A Translation Liaison Program for Research Documents

Background:  To ensure equitable selection of subjects, IRBs often require participant-facing documents to be translated into non-English languages. Study teams rarely have adequate resources for translation in-house and many IRBs require certifications or back-translations. Obtaining translations from a vendor can be costly, time-consuming, and unclear if a vendor isn’t already contracted.

Program

Description:  The HRPP Department began acting as a liaison between the research study team and the translation vendor to make the process of translation more efficient for researchers because most of the work is performed by the HRPP. A contract was established with a translation vendor and an initial purchase order (using HRPP Department funds) was established. The program allows researchers to request a translation estimate during the IRB review. The HRPP will send the IRB-approved document(s) to the vendor for the quotation. If the study team accepts the estimate, the vendor will be asked to proceed with the translation. The initial translation cost is paid by the PO and the HRPP collects the amount from the research team. We assessed the use of the program (cost and number of requests) year over year to evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the program.

Program

Assessment:  We have witnessed increasing usage of the program. Feedback on the translation program has been positive overall as research study teams appreciate assistance with the process. The translated documents are now being received in a much timelier manner due to the current vendor relationship. Also, having HRPP manage the initial payment improves the time to receipt of translations. Previously, translated documents were not provided until the invoice was paid. Having an established PO eliminates the administrative work of processing multiple payments. Finally, the cost to translate each word decreases each time the word has been translated. Therefore, the more the program is used, the lower the cost per translation. The average cost of translation has decreased by nearly 40% - from $598 per document to $369.

Limitations: Vendor selection is important. Rarely, mistakes are made on the newly translated document, which can be difficult to identify. When this happens, the HRPP communicates with the vendor to correct. Another challenge is managing different versions of one document over time. Having a document version policy in place can help. Finally, a major challenge is managing all stages of each translation. Currently, having a detailed spreadsheet in a shared drive has been the only solution.

Discussion:  More than 22% of the US population speaks a language other than English and that percentage continues to increase. Therefore, implementing a translation program could be beneficial for institutions that experience challenges with study document translations. There is also a possibility for institutions such as ours to add an administrative charge to each translation that may help with the cost to implement the program. At our institution, we plan to implement an electronic request process within the electronic IRB system rather than via the current Microsoft Word request, email, and spreadsheets. This will address the challenge of tracking the translations.