CONSTRUCT-VALIDATION OF THE USA-SPANISH VERSION OF THE SF-36 HEALTH SURVEY IN A CUBAN-AMERICAN POPULATION WITH BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA

This study examined the USA-Spanish version of the SF-36 health survey (validated in Mexican-Americans) and tested its construct validity in Cuban-Americans with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The study ev aluated the SF-36 and American Urological Association (AUA) Symptom In dex scores of 264 individuals with BPH. Individuals were assigned to o ne of the following groups: non-Hispanics who received the English ver sion, Cubans who received the English version and Cubans who received the Spanish version. The objective was to determine the correlation be tween the individuals' SF-36 and AUA Symptom Index scores. It was expe cted that patients in the severe category would have the lowest qualit y of life (QoL) scores. The analysis was conducted using a MANOVA with a planned comparisons procedure. For all eight scales, the English an d Spanish versions of the SF-36 were able to classify individuals with mild/moderate symptoms of BPH as having statistically higher QoL scor es than those with severe symptoms of BPH. We concluded that the USA-S panish version of the SF-36 can differentiate between levels of sympto m severity in individuals with BPH. More importantly the construct val idity of the English and Spanish versions of the SF-36 was demonstrate d through significant correlation with the theorized constructs.