Translation and validation of arthritis outcome measures into spanish

Abstract

Objective. To produce Spanish versions of common arthritis outcome measures: the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) Disability Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D), the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Pain Severity Scale, the Arthritis Self‐Efficacy Scale for Pain and Other Symptoms (with the addition of 2 new items), the Visual Analogue Pain Scale, the MOS Self‐Rated Health Item, and a Physical Activities Scale that would be usable by most Hispanics living in the US. We tested these translated measures for reliability and, where appropriate, validity. Methods. Instruments were translated and back translated by bilingual persons from 5 different countries of origin. Translators met to resolve variations in translation. The instruments were then administered to Hispanic arthritis patients in 6 geographic locations (5 in the United States and 1 in Latin America). All instruments underwent standard psychometric testing. As appropriate, the sample was stratified by level of acculturation, nation of origin, and geographic location. Results. The translated instruments, with slight modification, met acceptable levels of reliability and validity. They are understood and easily usable by diverse Spanish‐speaking populations. Conclusion. The availability of these translated outcome measures should enable investigators to include monolingual Spanish‐speakers into their studies, and should facilitate study of cross‐cultural differences with respect to these specific outcomes.

Cultural diversity issues in the development of valid and reliable measures of health status

“…Bracken and Barona (7) provide a set of guidelines for item construction that applies both to original instruments and translated target instruments. Similar guidelines are also delineated in Gonzhlez et a1 (8). Suggested guidelines are:…”

Effectiveness of a chronic disease self-management program in Mexico: A randomized controlled study

“…[16] Visual analog scales are widely used in research. [19,20] The scales used in this study differed from other scales in the number and heights of bars (10) and shade intensities. The study scales had a correlation of r = 0.72 and the 2-weeks test-retest reliability of the visual numeric scale was 0.64.…”

“…The study scales had a correlation of r = 0.72 and the 2-weeks test-retest reliability of the visual numeric scale was 0.64. [20] Health-related behaviors measures included frequency of physical activity and communication with physician; both measures have been tested for validity and reliability. [21] Self-management behaviors were assessed using the Partners in Health scale (PHS), which was previously validated in Mexican and Peruvian populations by the authors of this study.…”

Adaptación cultural de instrumentos utilizados en salud ocupacional

“…Numerosos investigadores han realizado adaptaciones de complejos e importantes instrumentos (11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Muchos países han desarrollado o adaptado escalas y cuestionarios a través de proyectos cooperativos multicéntricos, utilizando protocolos metodológicos sistematizados (15)(16).…”