Recent systematic reviews of measurement strategies have identified a striking lack of data to support the validity of most questionnaires used with multiethnic, migrant populations. In the context of two ongoing research studies examining the reproductive health needs of migrant women in Canada, cultural validation was required for proposed study questionnaires and protocols in a total of 13 languages. Multilingual, multiethnic women with various migrant profiles were recruited from the community to review research materials in a series of focus groups. Recommendations by these women were made in relation to consent and interpretation procedures, development of trust in research, home visits after birth, approaches to sensitive topics, inclusion of discrimination as a research variable, and reimbursement of participants. Preliminary work applying focus-group methods to mixed ethno-cultural groups yielded valuable information on appropriateness of planned research. © 2005 Sage Publications.

cross-cultural Refugee/asylum seeker migrant Focus group reproductive health Translation

information processing education Needs Assessment Reproduction Cultural Diversity cultural anthropology Communication Barriers educational status Reproductive Medicine social psychology refugee psychological aspect methodology nursing methodology research Quebec human validation study Refugees middle aged communication disorder ethnology qualitative research human relation Humans Trust Canada female questionnaire Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice women's health Article organization and management Questionnaires adult Women migration Prejudice standard Emigration and Immigration Researcher-Subject Relations attitude to health Focus Groups