Background The BC Centre for Palliative Care (BCCPC) evaluated its adapted advance care planning (ACP) resources for Punjabi-speaking members of the South Asian community and found the need for similarly adapted resources in Hindi. To address this need, the ACP Hindi Translation project was initiated in Summer of 2021 to translate ACP resources to Hindi from those previously culturally adapted for South Asian communities.

Methods This project used a public engagement approach which included two (2) professional translators and five (5) working group members from across BC who translated and reviewed the materials for cultural appropriateness, reading level, colloquialisms and terms borrowed from other languages. A focus group of ten (10) community members with no background in ACP or healthcare also reviewed the translated materials for cultural appropriateness and overall readability. The resources were then finalized and prepared for web posting.

Results The use of a public engagement approach facilitated the inclusion of community voices and perspectives on how ACP can best be understood within the community, introduced a common vocabulary on a difficult topic, and ensured ACP resources can be used in a variety of cultural and linguistic contexts. Among the key takeaways from this project are the strong, ongoing need for access to culturally and linguistically diverse resources, and the importance of public engagement in creating health resources that enable difficult conversations with family, friends and health-care providers in a culturally informed manner.

Conclusion The co-development of culturally and linguistically appropriate resources is feasible and creates meaningful results. The public engagement approach used in this project can be applied to other interventions, communities and jurisdictions.