OBJECTIVE: The "Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire" (BMQ) assess balance of necessity and concern of medicines. The BMQ has been translated from English to many languages. However, the original meaning of statements, such as "My medicine is a mystery to me", may be lost in translation. The aim of this study is to compare three Scandinavian translations of the BMQ. (1) How reliable are the translations? (2) Are they still valid after translation?

METHODS: Translated Norwegian, Swedish and Danish versions of the BMQ were scrutinized by three native Scandinavian researchers. Linguistic differences and ambiguities in the 5-point Likert scale and the BMQ statements were compared.

RESULTS: In the Scandinavian translations, the Likert scale expanded beyond the original version at one endpoint (Swedish) or both endpoints (Danish). In the BMQ statements, discrepancies ranged from smaller inaccuracies toward completely different meaning. Some dissimilarities reflect different cultural beliefs about medicines.

CONCLUSION: When translating questionnaires, bilingual researchers should scrutinize translations across similar languages to address content validity across different countries and languages.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Our findings are of relevance to other BMQ translations in non-English countries, as direct comparisons between different translations might not be reliable or valid.