A. Escalante et al., CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF A BRIEF OUTCOME QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SPANISH-SPEAKING ARTHRITIS PATIENTS, Arthritis and rheumatism, 39(1), 1996, pp. 93-100
Objective. To cross-culturally adapt a brief self-assessment questionn
aire to measure outcome among English- or Spanish-speaking patients wi
th arthritis. Methods. A questionnaire containing the following items
was translated to Spanish: the 8 activities of daily living (ADL) ques
tions of the Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire; a question abou
t the duration of morning stiffness; and a 10-point pain scale, Equiva
lence to the original English, test-retest reliability, and construct,
criterion, and discriminant validity were determined on a population
of patients from 4 clinical centers. Results. English-Spanish equivale
nce and test-retest reliability of the questionnaire were almost perfe
ct (intra-class correlation coefficients [r(i)] greater than or equal
to 0.90 for each), Construct validity, measured by comparing questionn
aire scores with an occupational therapist's evaluation, was also near
-perfect in both languages (r(i) = 0.93 for English and 0.89 for Spani
sh), Both versions of the questionnaire correlated well with the physi
cian-determined Steinbrocker functional class, as well as with the amo
unt of pain, grip strength, and walking velocity, Patients with system
ic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and fibr
omyalgia differed significantly in their pain:ADL ratios, in both lang
uages. Conclusion. The items of the Spanish questionnaire that we have
adapted are equivalent to the original English versions, This questio
nnaire is suitable for studying Spanish-speaking subjects with arthrit
is in the US and elsewhere.