ADAPTING EXISTING MATERIALS

This section outlines the issues to consider when modifying an existing material. There are many ways to adapt materials. You can adapt them for new target audiences, such as a different age group or speakers of a different language. You can change a local material for a wider audience or localize a national material, perhaps with new graphics or facts specific to the new target audience. Modifying a material instead of creating a new one can save time and money. Appendix F describes the process by which the fotonovela developed by WEST for one specific Massachusetts community was adapted subsequently to serve a nationwide audience.

Adapting from English to Spanish. You may have developed or obtained a material in English that deals with a topic not available in Spanish and appears to be worthwhile. To create a Spanish version, you need to determine the following:

• Is the content still accurate?
• Does the material use effective health-communication techniques?
• Has the material been effective?
• Is the material appropriate for your intended audience (e.g., demographic targeted, language level, etc.)?

Adapting Spanish materials. Many traffic safety materials are available in Spanish. A list of those identified by the EST project in 2005 appears on the AAAFTS Web site: www.aaafoundation.org.⁶ Remember, though, that a material is not necessarily effective for Latinos simply because it is written in Spanish, and that it may be appropriate for some communities but not for others. If your organization is a national or State agency, you may want to modify a material developed for one community (e.g., Mexican Americans in the Southwest) for use in another community (e.g., Puerto Ricans in the Northeast), or you may want to adapt it for a broader audience. If your organization is local, you may want to modify a national material for your particular community.

The following steps will help you determine whether to go ahead with an adaptation and how to carry it out.

Contact the Original Developer

Although knowing something about the process used to create an existing material is not essential, such knowledge can help you focus your efforts and determine how far you need to go in evaluating the existing material, before adapting it for your needs. If possible, contact the developers of the material and determine the extent to which they followed the recommendations in the Guidelines.
Ask the developers the following questions:

Audience

• Who was your target audience?
• Why did you want to develop a material for that group?
  
  Partners
  
• Who were your partners?
• Did you have partners that were knowledgeable about Latinos, traffic safety, and health communication?
• Were your Latino partners representative of the target audience?
  
  Accuracy
  
• What sources did you use for traffic safety information?
• How did that information affect the development of your material?
  
  Appropriateness of the content and format for the audience
  
• What sources of information did you use to understand your audience?
• Did you obtain input from the audience, both at the outset and for the final draft?
• What methods did you use to obtain feedback?
• What did you learn from the audience?
• How did the audience’s input affect the material’s content?
• How did their input affect the material’s format?
  
  Language
  
• Was your material developed in Spanish or translated from English?
• If it was developed in Spanish, what were the writer’s qualifications?
• If it was translated from English, was this done by a professional translator?
  
  Dissemination and evaluation
  
• How did you disseminate the material?
• Did you evaluate the material? If so, did your evaluation address the following elements?
  
  • Process: How many were distributed? To whom?
  • Impact: Did the audience learn anything from the material? If so, what? Did you obtain feedback from professionals or the target audience? If so, what were the results?

Draw on Traffic Safety, Latino, and Health Communication Partners

Use the information in “Step 1: Identify Key Partners” to determine the types of partners you will need. Find partners who have native Spanish-language skills and are knowledgeable about the culture and values of your intended audience. Also involve partners with expertise in health communications and traffic safety.

Ensure the Material’s Technical Accuracy

Review the guidance and supplemental information in “Step 2: Understand Your Traffic Safety Topic” to determine whether the traffic safety information in the material is accurate and up-to-date. If you were able to contact the original developer, examine the sources of information they used and search other sources of information for corroborating or conflicting facts. You may need to update or expand certain information to make it accurate.

Make Sure the Content and Format Are Appropriate for the Target Audience

It is very important that you obtain feedback on the current version of the material from representatives of your target audience before you begin modifying it. You should also obtain feedback on your draft of the modified material to ensure its cultural appropriateness.

The extent to which you need to alter the material to make it appropriate for your target audience depends on the original development process. If you determine that a material was created in Spanish in accordance with the recommendations outlined in the Guidelines, you need only to confirm that the material is appropriate for your particular audience. To determine this, do the following:

• Obtain feedback on the material from representatives of your target audience, as described in “Step 7: Solicit Feedback from Your Audience and Partners.”
  
  
• After determining the content is accurate and appropriate, make any necessary changes in, for example, the contact information or photos, that will help the material suit the new audience.

If you are creating a Spanish version of an English-language material, if you are starting with a Spanish version that was developed without using the recommendations in the Guidelines (e.g., the developer translated word for word from English, if the developer of the original material did not obtain input from the target audience during development), or if you do not know how the material was developed, follow these steps to ensure that the content and format are relevant for your target audience:

To ensure that the content is culturally appropriate

• Gain a general understanding of your audience by reviewing the background information on Latinos and traffic safety provided in “Step 3: Understand Your Audience.”
  
  
• To determine whether the concepts in the original material are likely to resonate with your audience, consider the ideas in “Step 4b: Present Content in a Way That Is Culturally Appropriate.”
  
  
• Modify the content to make it more appropriate. For example, you may decide to expand text explaining safety-belt laws, if your audience is unfamiliar with this information. In an English-language brochure on impaired driving, you might change the text warning that a conviction will impact one’s driving to an example of how a conviction has affected a hypothetical person or family similar to a member of your target audience.

To ensure that the format and graphics are culturally appropriate

• Use the recommendations in “Step 6: Use Culturally Appropriate Format and Graphics” to determine whether your material is likely to be effective with the target audience.
  
  
• Make modifications if necessary. For example, you might use new photos of community scenes familiar to your audience.

Create an Effective Spanish Version of the Material

If you are starting with an English version, the key is to interpret the information, not to translate it word for word. If the material is already in Spanish, it still may need to be totally rewritten or edited, or, depending on the process used in the original development and on feedback you receive from your target audience, it may not need to be changed at all. To find a writer and ensure that you are using language correctly, follow the guidance in “Step 5: Use Accurate, Simple, and Appropriate Language.”

When adapting a national organization’s Spanish-language material for a local audience, try to retain the tagline that captures the campaign’s theme and the graphic design associated with the campaign. Retaining these elements will reinforce the message of the national campaign for those audience members who are exposed to both local and national messages. NHTSA uses this strategy as part of its Click It or Ticket campaign, by providing local organizations with the Click It or Ticket tagline in English and “Abrochado o Multado” in Spanish.

Obtain Input on the Spanish Version from the Target Audience and from Your Partners

To ensure the final Spanish material will be effective with your target audience, follow the guidance in “Step 3: Understand Your Audience” and obtain feedback from representatives of your target audience. As described in “Step 7: Solicit Feedback from Your Audience and Partners,” it’s also important to obtain feedback on the content, format, and language in the draft and make changes if necessary.

Disseminate and Evaluate Your Material

To disseminate and evaluate your material, follow the procedures in “Step 8: Effectively Disseminate Your Material” and “Step 9: Evaluate and Review Your Material.”

For traffic safety terminology and taglines which should be consistent throughout your material, see appendix C.

⁶ Note that the EST staff did not evaluate the content or appropriateness of these materials.

⁷ Copies of the posters can be found at: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/CPSPlanner_2006/CPSPlanner2006/index.cfm