Italian translation, cultural adaptation and pilot testing of Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT 3.1) in pediatric cancer

Introduction: Experiences related to pediatric oncology diagnosis cause great imbalances within the family structure. Assessing the frailties and needs of families and children with cancer from a psychosocial perspective is an important step in providing appropriate pediatric psychology care.Methods: The aim of this study was to develop an Italian translation of the last version of the Psychosocial Assessment Tool questionnaire (PAT 3.1) and to pilot-test it among pediatric oncological families. The guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of health-related quality of life measures were followed. Specifically, two independent forward translations were produced, followed by a reconciliation step by a multidisciplinary expert committee and back-translation. Revision of the original text and all translations were performed by the expert committee leading to a final version, which was pilot-tested by cognitive debriefing on five families. Subsequently, the final Italian PAT 3.1 version was approved.Results: The Italian version of the PAT 3.1 generated in the present study is a useful instrument to examine the psychosocial risk of the families with a child with cancer.Conclusions: This instrument will be a valuable tool for future clinical trials and it will help clinicians to target specific pediatric psychology support intervention. The questionnaire will be further validated through a multicenter Italian study on psychosocial screening of pediatric oncology and pediatric general diseases.