WASSOR Womanity

Although, 7 years old, these figures deserve our attention, but we must also interrogate the tools used to produce them. Which psychometric instruments were used? In what languages? Were they culturally adapted and validated? In our research in Senegal, we used the PHQ-9, a globally recognised instrument also referenced in WHO-supported clinical frameworks. Yet, our Delphi rounds revealed significant challenges in its linguistic and conceptual applicability. This is precisely what has informed our work on Maguette, WASSOR’s youth mental health application. Rather than simply translating established psychometric questions, we have drawn on the language, expressions and conceptual framings provided by our evaluators to reconsider how we ask about psychological distress, including how questions are formulated and understood within their sociocultural contexts. This raises a fundamental question: Whose conceptualisation of depression are we measuring, and whose experiences of psychological distress are being captured? Translating words does not necessarily translate experiences of psychological suffering. Nor does an instrument’s international recognition guarantee its cultural validity. The challenge is not merely to make our instruments linguistically accessible, but to ensure that the experiences they seek to measure are meaningfully represented.