Objective: To culturally adapt and translate for use in French- and English-speaking areas of Canada the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), a carefully developed and standardized measure that is useful for assessing the outcomes for care.
Design: For the Canadian French version, the methods involved forward and backward translations, quality ratings of the translated product, a scaling exercise and pilot tests. A process of cultural adaptation, along with the scaling exercise and pilot tests, was used to create a form in Canadian English.
Results: The authors produced acceptable versions of the SF-36 in Canadian French and English.
Conclusions: Although further psychometric testing of the Canadian versions of the SF-36 is desirable, they are now available for use in clinical practice and research in Canada.