Abstract:

Background:
Cohesion of European nursing education is a goal, as international educational partnership will increase the transparency and mutual recognition of competence as well as increasing understanding of cultural and legal diversity of nursing. E-compendiums (electronic rich media PDF files containing audio files, figures, photos, animations, interactions, a short multiple-choice test, podcasts and two games) have been found to be effective for students in the Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Stavanger, Norway. For a funded Erasmus+ programme, we translated and adapted the e-compendiums into English and Spanish. This study was a collaboration between the University of Stavanger, Universidad Católica de Valencia in Spain and the University of Nottingham in the UK. The purpose of the study is to provide new insights into the process of translation and adaption of Norwegian e-compendiums into English and Spanish for use in Bachelor of Nursing degree programmes in the UK and Spain.

Aim:
The aim was to explore the translation and adaption process from the experiences of the university lectures.

Method:
The study involved eight e-compendiums (four nursing-focused and four physiology-focused) developed at the University of Stavanger. They were disseminated to teams at Universidad Católica de Valencia and the University of Nottingham for translation and adaptation to their respective Bachelor of Nursing programmes. Each university modified the e-compendiums accordingly, taking into account the local clinical context and curriculum. Data relating to translation and adoption consisted of written logs from each university’s team about how they experienced the translation process. The logs included three themes: 1) considering how much of the compendiums was amended for reasons of clinical accuracy and clinical context; 2) identifying the most challenging aspects of the process; and 3) reflecting on the translation process. The log analysis was guided by a qualitative content analysis.

Results:
The preliminary results indicate that the lecturers found the translation process challenging and time-consuming but also educational. They found the e-compendiums in nursing more difficult to translate than the physiology-focused material as these needed to be amended according to each country’s clinical guidelines and context. In particular, the e-compendiums in nutrition and wound care needed to be adapted to the respective countries’ guidelines and context. The results also reflect how the translation process would have been easier if the participating university lecturers had been involved with the development of content of the e-compendiums in more detail before they began to translate them.

Preliminary Conclusions:
The preliminary findings provided useful insights regarding the translation and adaption process and the value of open communication among the participating university teachers including the importance of discussing the content of the e-compendiums in the early stages of the process.

Keywords:

E-compendiums, translation and adaption process, qualitative method.