RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Toward Ensuring Health Equity: Readability and Cultural Equivalence of OMERACT Patient-reported Outcome Measures JF The Journal of Rheumatology JO J Rheumatol FD The Journal of Rheumatology SP jrheum.141168 DO 10.3899/jrheum.141168 A1 Jennifer Petkovic A1 Jonathan Epstein A1 Rachelle Buchbinder A1 Vivian Welch A1 Tamara Rader A1 Anne Lyddiatt A1 Rosemary Clerehan A1 Robin Christensen A1 Annelies Boonen A1 Niti Goel A1 Lara J. Maxwell A1 Karine Toupin-April A1 Maarten De Wit A1 Jennifer Barton A1 Caroline Flurey A1 Janet Jull A1 Cheryl Barnabe A1 Antoine G. Sreih A1 Willemina Campbell A1 Christoph Pohl A1 Mehmet Tuncay Duruöz A1 Jasvinder A. Singh A1 Peter S. Tugwell A1 Francis Guillemin YR 2015 UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2015/06/11/jrheum.141168.abstract AB Objective The goal of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) 12 (2014) equity working group was to determine whether and how comprehensibility of patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) should be assessed, to ensure suitability for people with low literacy and differing cultures. Methods The English, Dutch, French, and Turkish Health Assessment Questionnaires and English and French Osteoarthritis Knee and Hip Quality of Life questionnaires were evaluated by applying 3 readability formulas: Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid grade level, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook; and a new tool, the Evaluative Linguistic Framework for Questionnaires, developed to assess text quality of questionnaires. We also considered a study assessing cross-cultural adaptation with/without back-translation and/or expert committee. The results of this preconference work were presented to the equity working group participants to gain their perspectives on the importance of comprehensibility and cross-cultural adaptation for PROM. Results Thirty-one OMERACT delegates attended the equity session. Twenty-six participants agreed that PROM should be assessed for comprehensibility and for use of suitable methods (4 abstained, 1 no). Twenty-two participants agreed that cultural equivalency of PROM should be assessed and suitable methods used (7 abstained, 2 no). Special interest group participants identified challenges with cross-cultural adaptation including resources required, and suggested patient involvement for improving translation and adaptation. Conclusion Future work will include consensus exercises on what methods are required to ensure PROM are appropriate for people with low literacy and different cultures.