BackgroundThe Childbirth Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) was originally designed to study women’s perceptions of labour and birth. The main objective of our study was to adapt the CEQ to the Spanish context and determine its psychometric properties. This would provide an opportunity to evaluate women’s experiences in order to improve evidence in the Spanish context as recommended by national guidelines.MethodsThe CEQ was translated into Spanish using a standard forward and back translation method (CEQ-E). A convenience sample of 364 women was recruited from 3 Spanish hospitals; all participants were able to read and write in Spanish. Mothers with high risk pregnancies or preterm deliveries were excluded from the study. A self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic variables was completed by participants before discharge. Data on childbirth variables were obtained from maternity records. Between 1 and 3 months postpartum a postal CEQ-E questionnaire was sent.The CEQ-E structure was examined by a confirmatory factor analysis of polychoric correlations using a diagonally weighted least squares estimator. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Construct validity was conducted by testing differences in CEQ-E scores between known-groups (to differ on key variables).Results226 (62.1%) of the recruited participants completed the postal questionnaire. The CEQ-E factor structure was similar to the original one. The Spanish version showed fit statistics in line with standard recommendations: CFI = 0.97; NNFI = 0.97; RMSEA = 0.066; SRMS = 0.077. The internal consistency reliability of the CEQ-E was good for the overall scale (0.88) and for all subscales (0.80, 0.90, 0.76, 0.68 for “own capacity”, “professional support”, “perceived safety” and “participation”, respectively) and similar to the original version. Women with a labour duration ≤ 12 h, women with a labour not induced, women with a normal birth and multiparous women showed higher overall CEQ-E scores and “perceived safety” subscale scores. Women with a labour duration ≤ 12 h and those with previous experience of labour obtained higher scores for the “own capacity” and “participation” subscales.ConclusionsThe results of this study indicate that the CEQ-E can be considered a valid and reliable measure of women’s perceptions of labour and birth in Spain.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12884-016-1100-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Adequate communication skills in healthcare professionals are one of the key elements required for achieving high-quality healthcare. Thus, measurement instruments able to assess the dimensions related to these skills, including attitudes towards communication, are useful and convenient tools. Objectives To (a) cross-culturally adapt and validate a scale to measure attitudes towards communication in a sample of nursing students in the Spanish environment; (b) describe the perceived attitudes of nursing degree students towards communication. Methods We conducted an instrumental study. First, we adapted the scale by applying a standardised linguistic validation procedure. After that, we determined its structural equivalence and evaluated its psychometric properties. Participants A total of 255 students participated; their average age was 22.66 years (SD = 4.75) and 82% were female. Results The internal consistency of the scale was adequate (0.75), and the data fit well with the model (CFI = 0.99; TLI = 0.99; RMSEA = .01 95% CI [.00–.05]). The overall instrument score poorly correlated with the self-efficacy in communication skills variable. Conclusions The attitudes towards communication scores for these nursing students were high. The Spanish version of the Attitudes Towards Health Communication scale had adequate psychometric properties and this tool could quickly and easily be applied to assess the attitudes of health profession students.

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BackgroundParkinson’s caregivers are frequently affected by a range of physical and psychological factors affecting to the quality of life (QoL) of patients and caregivers. However, while there are well-validated QoL instruments for patients, few specific measures has been developed for caregivers of patients with PD. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Parkinson Disease Questionnaire–Carer (PDQ-Carer) for use in PD caregivers.MethodsThe PDQ-Carer and the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) were completed by sample of 73 caregivers of patients with PD in Spain (71.8 % females; 63.6 ± 12.3 years old).ResultsPsychometric analysis confirmed the reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the PDQ-Carer. The internal consistency was found to be satisfactory for the four PDQ-Carer domains: Personal and Social Activities, Depression and Anxiety, Self-care and Stress with Cronbach’s alpha values ranging 0.80 to 0.95. The PDQ-Carer was significantly correlated with the eight SF-36 domains (r = -0.31 to -0.59, p < 0.001) supporting the concurrent validity of the instrument.ConclusionsOverall, these results provide preliminary evidence of the utility of the Spanish version of the PDQ-Carer in non-professionals caregivers

This article outlines the linguistic validation of the Good Death Inventory (GDI) translation into Spanish, used to assess the quality of care at the end of a patient’s life. A standardized procedure was followed to do this that included a blind back translation process and an exploration of the conceptual adaptation of the scale into Spanish through six cognitive interviews with relatives of deceased patients. The translation of the scale (54 items) showed indicators of low difficulty. Six items required syntactic changes, 12 required semantic changes and only one item required syntactic and semantic changes. All items were considered applicable to the Spanish context. The degree of difficulty was higher for the back translation than for the translation itself. The cognitive interviews highlighted the difficulty of choosing between seven answers, especially those that were formulated as negative. Five items were difficult to understand. The Spanish version of the GDI has been adapted well to the Spanish context.

Accessible summary What is known on the subject? The Psychiatric/Mental Health Clinical Placement Survey preplacement, validated in English and widely used, assesses nursing student attitudes towards the mental health field. There are no validated scales in Spanish to assess students' attitudes towards mental health, nor is there evidence of attitudes in Spanish students. What does this article add to existing knowledge? The present study was the first to address the validity of a scale which evaluates nursing student attitudes towards mental health issues, in Spanish. Until now, no knowledge was available on nursing student attitudes towards mental health issues in the Spanish context. What are the implications for practice? The results provide faculty professors with a validated tool to use to assess attitudinal changes in students, following theoretical and practical training in mental health. To have an up‐to‐date perspective on student attitudes towards both the field of mental health and people with severe mental illness, thereby providing the opportunity to focus on those aspects requiring improvement. AbstractIntroductionThe encouragement of positive attitudes towards mental health is necessary in order to improve the quality of healthcare assistance. The attitudes of nursing students towards mental health are unknown, and there are no validated scales for their assessment.AimsTo adapt the Psychiatric/Mental Health Clinical Placement Survey (PMHCPS) to Spanish and examine its psychometric properties; to describe the attitudes of nursing students towards the mental health field.MethodConfirmatory factorial analysis (CFA), internal consistency and construct validity were performed. An assessment of the students' attitudes was also conducted.ResultsThe CFA showed appropriate fit, and total internal consistency was adequate. With regard to construct validity, knowledge was associated with practicum mark. The students achieved above mid‐range scores for all subscales, except negative stereotypes. Gender differences were observed.DiscussionThe PMHCPS, translated to Spanish, enables the students' attitude towards the mental health field to be assessed, thus identifying those areas of student attitudes and competencies requiring improvement.Implications for practiceTo provide Spanish nursing faculties with access to a scale, with which to assess changes in student attitudes. The assessment results may then be utilized to formulate teaching methods in order to improve the quality of health care the students might provide as future nursing professionals.

The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has significantly increased in recent years. No specific instruments are available in Spanish for assessing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in people with MCI. The aim of this study was to adapt transculturally and validate the mild cognitive impairment questionnaire (MCQ) in Spanish people with MCI.A standardized transcultural adaptation process was carried out, and the structural equivalence of the Spanish version of the scale was examined. In addition, we studied the reliability and construct validity of the instrument. The sample comprised 100 people with MCI, with a mean age of 79.5 years. In a confirmatory factor analysis, we found the instrument had a one-factor structure and adequate internal consistency. Related to the construct validity, we found meaningful relationships with measures of HRQoL and depression. Our results indicate that the Spanish version of the MCQ is a reliable and valid tool for measuring HRQoL in Spanish patients with MCI. The availability of specific tools, such as the MCQ allows nurses to evaluate new intervention strategies to improve the HRQoL of these patients. Furthermore, this scale can be used by researchers and clinicians to improve the standards of care provided to this population. K E Y W O R D S linguistic validation, mild cognitive impairment, psychometric properties, quality of life

The goals of this article are to summarize the problems and solutions found in translating seven Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) questionnaires from English into Spanish which have used a common international protocol based on back-translation techniques. The methodology used is based on the linguistic validation model including both the linguistic and the sociopragmatic equivalence. Five questionnaires from seven have obtained good results, not so two of them. Considering linguistic questions, there were more problems than good solutions on the lexical-semantic level. With respect to the sociocultural questions, there were more solutions than problems. The Spanish translated questionnaires still present deficiencies to be corrected, so both linguistic and sociocultural questions have to be studied more carefully in order not to allow differences between the translated versions and the source questionnaires.Schlagwörter: Traducción, retrotraducción, validación lingüística, adaptación cultural, calidad de vida relacionada con la salud, cuestionarios IntroducciónLos dos tipos más importantes de validación al hablar de comparabilidad transcultural son la lingüística y la psicométrica (Acquadro et al., 2008) aunque nosotros nos vamos a centrar sólo en la primera por ser nuestro ámbito de estudio. De este modo, nuestro propósito ha sido el de analizar y valorar hasta qué punto y en qué medida se ha alcanzado la validación lingüística en los principales cuestionarios de Calidad de Vida Relacionada con la Salud (CVRS), basándonos en estudios realizados sobre los instrumentos SF-36, COOP/WONCA, NPH o EQ-5D y a partir del modelo de adaptación lingüística y cultural propuesto por el comité científico del Medical Outcomes Trust para instrumentos adaptados (Scientific Advisory Committee of the Medical Outcomes Trust, 2002).