Translation of established public health measurement instruments into Arabic and Dari (ENSURE) (English Version)

Findings for Multi-Item Scale Recommendations for Multi-Item Scale

The introductory question text was systematically tested. Only spontaneous reactions of the test persons to the items are available, if at all.

What do the test persons understand by "democracy"?

There was no difference in the understanding of the word "democracy" between the languages and countries. Slightly more than half of the test persons understood it mainly to mean freedom of opinion and speech (SY01, SY02, SY03, SY06, IR01, IR03, IR06, DA04, DA06). Other types of freedom such as (social) freedoms in general (SY03, SY04, DA02, DA04), pressfreedom (DA04, DA06), freedom of religion (IR01, IR05), freedom of dress (IR01), and personal freedom (IR05) were also mentioned by the test persons. The second aspect mentioned by the test persons was that a democratic government is one elected by the people (DA03, DA05) and that there are referendums (SY02, SY06, IR06). The third item included under "democracy" was equal treatment (IR05, DA01), living in dignity (IR03), and respect (IR05).

Regardless of the country of origin or language version, or across all countries of origin and language versions, the problem was that many test persons (Syria: n = 4, Iraq: n = 1, Afghanistan: n = 4) stated that they were not (well) acquainted with politics in general and political topics in particular and that they did not concern themselves with them. These were also the main test persons who did not answer one or both of the questions. However, many other test persons who selected a scale point also stated that they had nothing to do with politics. In several cases, it remained unclear whether the test persons were actually unfamiliar with democracy and political issues or whether they perceived the topic as sensitive or too personal.

In an Arabic interview, a test person from Syria (SY03) did not understand the question at first, but only when the interpreter explained it to her again in dialect. The interpreter then pointed out that it should be noted again (in the items themselves and not just in the initial instructions) that the question was about the political system itself and not about a party. Another Syrian and an Afghan test person (SY05, DA02) also explicitly stated that they did not know what democracy was and were not familiar with the word.

Introduction: Since a few test persons were unfamiliar with the term democracy and very many stated that they were unfamiliar with politics, it would be worth considering inserting a brief explanation of this political system and possibly distinguishing it from other forms of government.
In addition, the word "Sie" is missing in the introductory question text in the German template.
Items: No changes recommended.
Response format: No changes recommended.