Capacity building for knowledge translation: A survey about the characteristics and motivation of volunteer translators of Cochrane plain language summaries

Background Cochrane systematic reviews have plain language summaries (PLSs) that are translated into multiple languages, mostly by volunteers. We aimed to survey volunteer translators to find out their characteristics, motivation, and suggestions to further improve this translation project. Methods We surveyed 176 registered volunteer translators from the Cochrane Croatia PLS translation project. A 28-item survey, created for the purpose of this study, was administered via SurveyMonkey in November-December 2017. Translators received an invitation to the survey and two follow-up reminders via e-mail. Primary and secondary outcomes were the characteristics and motivation of volunteers. Results We received 106 responses (60% response rate) to the survey. The translators were on average (standard deviation) 32 ± 10 years old, they were mostly women (74%), and most of them were medical doctors (29%) or pharmacists (13%). The majority found out about the translation project from acquaintances and colleagues. Most of them indicated that they have still had high motivation for the project, but for the majority, the number of translations decreased over time. When asked what could motivate them to translate more Cochrane PLSs, or to start translating if they did not translate anything yet, the most common answers were: feedback about translation quality, reminders, a workshop for translators and Facebook group for translators. Conclusion Cochrane volunteer PLS translators are a motivated and highly educated group, but their translation output is decreasing with time. Reminders, feedback and education are interventions that should be tested to increase volunteer engagement in such initiatives.