@inproceedings{zaghouani-2026-label,
title = "The Label-Translation Fallacy: A Four-Layer Validity Protocol for Multilingual Mental Health {NLP}",
author = "Zaghouani, Wajdi",
editor = "Wang, Zimu and
Jiang, Yiwen and
Shen, Yaling and
Zhao, Xiangyu and
Fong, Stephanie and
Sun, Xin and
Zhou, Yi and
Ji, Shaoxiong and
Desimone, Robert and
Nelson, Barnaby and
Dwyer, Dominic and
Ge, Zongyuan",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Multimodal, Multilingual, and Multicultural Mental Health and Psychotherapy ({M}ulti{P}syche)",
month = nov,
year = "2026",
address = "Hengqin, Zhuhai, China",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.multipsyche-1.5/",
pages = "44--54",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-448-4",
abstract = "A familiar paper translates an English screener, fits a classifier to the new labels, reports a strong F1, and claims to detect depression in another language community. Standard metrics can look fine while construct equivalence, instrument adaptation, and annotation ecology remain unshown. We call this the label-translation fallacy. Building on unified validity theory, measurement modeling, data statements, and cultural psychiatry, we propose a four-layer reporting protocol (construct, instrument, annotation ecology, and licensed claim) for authors and reviewers at venues such as MultiPsyche. We provide minimal evidence thresholds grounded in COSMIN and psychometric standards, concrete templates for L3 annotation reporting, and a decision tree for mapping evidence to claims. Three one-pass case studies show operationalizability. The contribution is integrative rather than experimental: we combine existing validity tools into an operational checklist so that multilingual mental health metrics are interpreted only as strongly as their constructs allow."
}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="zaghouani-2026-label">
<titleInfo>
<title>The Label-Translation Fallacy: A Four-Layer Validity Protocol for Multilingual Mental Health NLP</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Wajdi</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zaghouani</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2026-11</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Multimodal, Multilingual, and Multicultural Mental Health and Psychotherapy (MultiPsyche)</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Zimu</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Wang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yiwen</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Jiang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yaling</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Shen</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Xiangyu</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhao</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Stephanie</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Fong</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Xin</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Sun</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yi</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhou</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Shaoxiong</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Ji</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Robert</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Desimone</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Barnaby</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Nelson</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Dominic</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Dwyer</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Zongyuan</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Ge</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>Association for Computational Linguistics</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">Hengqin, Zhuhai, China</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
<identifier type="isbn">979-8-89176-448-4</identifier>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>A familiar paper translates an English screener, fits a classifier to the new labels, reports a strong F1, and claims to detect depression in another language community. Standard metrics can look fine while construct equivalence, instrument adaptation, and annotation ecology remain unshown. We call this the label-translation fallacy. Building on unified validity theory, measurement modeling, data statements, and cultural psychiatry, we propose a four-layer reporting protocol (construct, instrument, annotation ecology, and licensed claim) for authors and reviewers at venues such as MultiPsyche. We provide minimal evidence thresholds grounded in COSMIN and psychometric standards, concrete templates for L3 annotation reporting, and a decision tree for mapping evidence to claims. Three one-pass case studies show operationalizability. The contribution is integrative rather than experimental: we combine existing validity tools into an operational checklist so that multilingual mental health metrics are interpreted only as strongly as their constructs allow.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">zaghouani-2026-label</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2026.multipsyche-1.5/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2026-11</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>44</start>
<end>54</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T The Label-Translation Fallacy: A Four-Layer Validity Protocol for Multilingual Mental Health NLP
%A Zaghouani, Wajdi
%Y Wang, Zimu
%Y Jiang, Yiwen
%Y Shen, Yaling
%Y Zhao, Xiangyu
%Y Fong, Stephanie
%Y Sun, Xin
%Y Zhou, Yi
%Y Ji, Shaoxiong
%Y Desimone, Robert
%Y Nelson, Barnaby
%Y Dwyer, Dominic
%Y Ge, Zongyuan
%S Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Multimodal, Multilingual, and Multicultural Mental Health and Psychotherapy (MultiPsyche)
%D 2026
%8 November
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C Hengqin, Zhuhai, China
%@ 979-8-89176-448-4
%F zaghouani-2026-label
%X A familiar paper translates an English screener, fits a classifier to the new labels, reports a strong F1, and claims to detect depression in another language community. Standard metrics can look fine while construct equivalence, instrument adaptation, and annotation ecology remain unshown. We call this the label-translation fallacy. Building on unified validity theory, measurement modeling, data statements, and cultural psychiatry, we propose a four-layer reporting protocol (construct, instrument, annotation ecology, and licensed claim) for authors and reviewers at venues such as MultiPsyche. We provide minimal evidence thresholds grounded in COSMIN and psychometric standards, concrete templates for L3 annotation reporting, and a decision tree for mapping evidence to claims. Three one-pass case studies show operationalizability. The contribution is integrative rather than experimental: we combine existing validity tools into an operational checklist so that multilingual mental health metrics are interpreted only as strongly as their constructs allow.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.multipsyche-1.5/
%P 44-54
Markdown (Informal)
[The Label-Translation Fallacy: A Four-Layer Validity Protocol for Multilingual Mental Health NLP](https://aclanthology.org/2026.multipsyche-1.5/) (Zaghouani, MultiPsyche 2026)
ACL