Assessing eating and swallowing in adults born with intellectual and motor disabilities: Face and content validity of a Swedish translation of the Dysphagia Assessment Package

Purpose: Adults born with intellectual disabilities (ID) and motor disabilities (MD) have higher risk of dysphagia and should be assessed to decrease risk of severe complications. However, standardised assessment tools in Swedish are lacking.

Methods: The Dysphagia Assessment Package (DAP) was cross-culturally translated from English to Swedish (DAP-SE) and tested for content validity by an expert group. Face validity was assessed by five speech and language therapist (SLT) during meal observations (n = 10), and the clinical relevance was reported in a study-specific questionnaire.

Results: The DAP-SE was culturally adapted within the process of translation and was found to contain clinically relevant aspects to assess and suggest further interventions for adults with ID and MD. Face and content validity was confirmed by the expert group.

Conclusion: This study, in which the DAP-SE was tested in a small sample size, provides the first indications of the instrument's validity with respect to evaluating mealtimes, swallowing function and swallowing safety in adults born with ID and MD. The study adds to the knowledge on how to translate and culturally adapt an assessment tool to clinically assess dysphagia on a complex and vulnerable patient group.