Study title

Mental health service users complete the SCOPE-C, the Everyday discrimination scale and the SF12. these are all standardised published instruments. They were self-completed or completed with the assistance of research staff. Over 160 patients were assessed. A number of cross-cultural translation guides have become available over the years which provide guidance about adapting measures for other cultures. Taking into consideration the various available guides, for the purposes of this research we are adopting the guidance from a leading French research institute, which suggests that we proceed as follows. First we need to speak to groups of people in HK to see to what extent their views about the nature of the concept are similar or dissimilar to those in the UK. To do this we use a method known as 'concept mapping'. We then have experts examine the extent to which the items in the UK measure capture these ideas. At this point it may be necessary to add additional items to the new version. We then translate the UK version into Chinese, and back again, and reconcile and clarify any difference. The new version is then piloted in the Chinese communities, and any difficulties ironed out. Once we have obtained an acceptable version of the measure, following piloting we will then apply the measure to different samples. One will be of discharged mental patients in HK and these will be compared to similar patients in the UK to see if their nature and levels of inclusion are similar or not. Another will be of Chinese immigrants to the UK to see if their levels of inclusion are more similar to UK population or HK residents and immigrants. Finally, we will assess whether the new measure compares in the way it should with a widely used standardised measure, and a measure of recovery. The measure and these findings will provide the basis for further community research in Hong Kong, mainland China and in Chinese immigrant communities in other parts of the world....