SPANISH VERSION OF THE HEALTH ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE - RELIABILITY,VALIDITY AND TRANSCULTURAL EQUIVALENCY

Objective. To study the feasibility, reliability, and validity, of a S panish European version of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (SHAQ). Methods. A total of 170 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from 11 public general hospitals in Spain were included. We studied (a) the feasibility of the SHAQ by finding the proportion of patients able to self-administer it and the time they take to do so; (b) the test-rete st reliability of the SHAQ when completed twice, with an interval of o ne week, calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between t he first and second SHAQ scores; (c) the criterion validity of the SHA Q by comparing the clinician's assessment of the patient's activities (observed disability) with the scores noted by the patient in the ques tionnaire (referred disability); (d) cross sectional construct validit y comparing the scores of the SHAQ with the other tests used in the as sessment of RA; and (e) the longitudinal construct validity of the SHA Q comparing the difference between the initial and final SHAQ scores w ith the patient rating of improvement or worsening after a 3-month fol lowup. Results. The SHAQ was self-administered by 63 % of patients, th e rest needed the presence of an interviewer. The time taken to comple te the questionnaire was 6.4 min. Test-retest reliability (r = 0.89), criterion validity (r = 0.87), cross sectional construct validity, and longitudinal construct validity were satisfactory and similar to othe r HAQ versions used in different countries. Conclusion. The SHAQ is a reliable, valid tool, but for use in Spain an interviewer may be neces sary.