Translation, Cultural Adaptation and Validation: Exploring the Transferability of a Health Management Competency Model to the Norwegian Healthcare

Purpose: The healthcare sector faces complex challenges that demand a highly competent management workforce. Although considerable efforts have been made to develop management competency frameworks that provide lists of core competencies for health managers, few frameworks have undergone rigorous validity and reliability testing. The present study aimed to translate and culturally adapt the Management Competency Assessment Partnership (MCAP) tool for use in the Norwegian healthcare context and to evaluate its psychometric properties. Methods: An eleven-step translation and cultural adaptation procedure was developed in accordance with established guidelines. A pilot study was conducted using the adapted MCAP tool with 53 healthcare managers in Norway. The resulting test scores were analyzed using inter-item correlations and exploratory factor analysis to assess the construct validity and reliability. Results: The comprehensive translation and cross-cultural adaptation procedure contributed to the Norwegian version retained strong fidelity to the original tool. Preliminary findings demonstrated acceptable reliability and supported the construct validity of the MCAP tool test scores within the Norwegian healthcare context. Conclusion: A rigorous translation and cross-cultural adaptation process is essential to preserve conceptual integrity when implementing assessment instruments across contexts. The preliminary findings of this study adds to previous cross-contextual validation studies using the MCAP tool, further supporting its utility as a representative framework for assessing health management competencies.