NCCTS Translates
Products into Spanish

In the United States, Spanish is second only to English in the number of people who speak it in the home. Spanish speakers live all over the country, from urban centers to rural regions. It’s not surprising that California has the most Spanish speakers, but Georgia is in the top ten, just behind New Mexico.

In order to address the needs of this population, the Network began an effort in 2004 to increase the amount of material available in Spanish on www.NCTSN.org. The first step was to identify existing high-quality trauma resources in Spanish. Maria Perez, an intern at the Center for Trauma Program Innovation at the Jewish Board, scoured the web for materials, developed a rating tool, and had Spanish-speaking clinicians evaluate their quality. NCTSN Service Systems Director Susan Ko, and Cybele Merrick, research associate at the National Resource Center, then solicited Spanish material from Network centers and had key NCTSN publications translated into Spanish.

The “En Espanol” section of the website, containing these resources, was launched in 2004, just prior to the third anniversary of September 11. Since then, the site has been expanded with additional links, a comprehensive description of the Network, its history, and mission, and new resources. The site has been reaching its intended audience: in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, two Spanish documents on children’s reactions to hurricanes were among the top 20 most-downloaded items on the entire website.

Some months ago, a long-standing request by many members of the Network to have the Core Data Set translated into Spanish was realized. Data Core Project leader Patrick Loebs worked with translators from a host of Latin American countries on the initial translation. Since there is so much variation in how Spanish is spoken from one country to the next, it was crucial that the translators produce a version of the Core Data Set that was understandable to those with roots across the Latino world.  The full Spanish Core Data Set should be ready for pilot testing with Spanish-speaking clinicians and clients by month's end.

In the Core Data Set translation process, getting input from multiple stakeholders was key. Project leaders are exploring the establishment of a Network review committee that will shepherd resources through this process. Clinicians, consumers, community partners, and front-line staff can inform the product development process. Though time-consuming, these procedures help to insure a high-quality finished product.

The next issue of the e-Newsletter will report on additional efforts to make informative, easily accessible material on child trauma available to Spanish-speakers.  If your center has material that would be appropriate to add to the website, or if you know of good trauma-focused materials in Spanish produced by other organizations, please contact Cybele Merrick.  Additionally, if other Network centers that would like to participate in this pilot testing of the Spanish language CDS , please contact Patrick Loebs.

For interactive maps and tables on languages spoken in this country, see http://mla.org/census.