Training and support for caregivers of people with dementia: The process of culturally adapting the World Health Organization iSupport programme to Portugal

Background Informal caregivers of people with dementia often struggle with several stressors, and their mental and physical health can be negatively affected by providing care. iSupport is an online self-help programme designed by the World Health Organization to provide education, skills training, and support to those caregivers. Purpose This paper describes the development of an adapted version of iSupport to the Portuguese culture. We present the adaptation process, methods used and results for the country-specific version. Methods The adaptation of iSupport was operationalised in five steps: needs assessment; content translation by an authorised translator and technical accuracy check by health professionals; cultural adaptation; independent appraisal of contents by an expert panel; and fidelity check by programme authors. Results Findings indicated the adjustments needed in the original iSupport contents. Overall, 323 text excerpts were proposed to adaptation, comprising semantic and conceptual equivalence of expressions, and adjustments to cultural habits, customs, traditions, local resources, and practices. The expert panel identified the need to reformulate definitions, designations, recommendations, and case studies to fine-tune the original contents to local knowledge and practices. Most adaptations were considered to be in line with the core concepts of the original programme. Conclusions iSupport is an innovative tool capturing the attention of several organisations around the world interested in translating, adapting, and using the programme. This paper is the first describing the methodological approach for culturally adapting iSupport, constituting an essential resource for those aiming to replicate the process or culturally adapting evidence-based interventions. Tailoring iSupport to the Portuguese context was critical to accommodate the cultural experiences of the target group as well as the knowledge, theoretical approaches, and practices of local professionals. The European-Portuguese version of iSupport introduces the adjustments needed to implement a useful new intervention programme aimed at minimising the psychological distress of Portuguese caregivers.