The Hispanic Stress Inventory: A culturally relevant approach to psychosocial assessment.

Abstract

A 4-phase project was conducted to develop a culturally appropriate measure of psychosocial stress, the Hispanic Stress Inventory (HSI). Phase 1 involved the collection of open-ended interview data (JV = 105) to generate a set of meaningful psychosocial stress items. Phase 2 examined the construct validity of the HSI items by means of consensus ratings of expert judges along 6 conceptual categories. Phase 3 (N = 493) involved the use of factor analytic procedures to determine the underlying scale structure of the HSI, both for a Latin American immigrant and a U.S.-born (Mexican American) sample. This procedure resulted in an Immigrant %rsion of the HSI comprised of 73 items and 5 distinct sub-scales, as well as a US.-born version of the HSI comprised 59 items and 4 distinct subscales. In Phase 4, reliability estimates for the HSI were conducted by means of both internal consistency and a small test-retest study (N-35). Both procedures yielded high reliability coefficients. Clinical research and service delivery conducted with Hispanic Americans has long suffered from the lack of adequate assessment instruments (Cervantes & Castro, 19 8 5). The lack of normative baseline information for this growing population has raised concern regarding the use of current assessment tools for use with Hispanics. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Revised (DSM-III-R; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) provides a succinct description of stress-related disorders within the classification of Adjustment Disorder. Clinical experience with Hispanic adults sug-gests that this description may be useful in conceptualizing and assessing various forms of psychopathology among ethnic minority clients. This disorder is described as a "maladaptive reaction to an identifiable psychosocial stressor, or stressors, that

Cultural relevance and equivalence in the NLAAS instrument: integrating etic and emic in the development of cross‐cultural measures for a psychiatric epidemiology and services study of Latinos

“…Respondents are asked to indicate frequency of incidents of cultural conflict with their families such as interference with personal goals, arguments with family members due to different belief systems, and the breakdown of family unity. The items were drawn from a subscale of the Hispanic Stress Inventory (HSI) (Cervantes et al, 1991). Cultural specificity of the HSI has been proven for those of Hispanic culture through extensive psychometric testing (Cervantes et al, 1991).…”

“…The items were drawn from a subscale of the Hispanic Stress Inventory (HSI) (Cervantes et al, 1991). Cultural specificity of the HSI has been proven for those of Hispanic culture through extensive psychometric testing (Cervantes et al, 1991). In the NLAAS, five items from the Family/Culture Stress subscale of the HSI were selected to develop the Family Cultural Conflict scale.…”

“…This scale measures the stress of culture change that results from immigrating to the United States (Cervantes, Padilla et al, 1990;Cervantes, Padilla, & Salgado de Snyder, 1991) and has been tested mostly with Mexican American samples. A series of questions focus on respondent's experiences upon immigration: discrimination, fear of deportation, limited contact with family and friends, and difficulties with the English language.…”

“…A series of questions focus on respondent's experiences upon immigration: discrimination, fear of deportation, limited contact with family and friends, and difficulties with the English language. The MAPSS originally adapted these items from the Occupational/Emotional Stress subscale of the Hispanic Stress Inventory (HSI) (Cervantes, Padilla et al, 1991). The HSI was developed to measure the experiences of psychosocial stress for Hispanics.…”

“…The HSI was developed to measure the experiences of psychosocial stress for Hispanics. Cultural specificity of the HSI has been proven for those of Hispanic culture through extensive psychometric testing (Cervantes et al, 1991 …”