Assessment of cross-cultural adaptations of patient-reported shoulder outcome measures in Spanish: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: The present study aimed to conduct a systematic review of self-administered shoulder-disability functional assessment questionnaires adapted to Spanish, analyzing the quality of the transcultural adaptation and the clinimetric properties of the new version.

Methods: A search of the main biomedical databases was conducted to locate Spanish shoulder function assessment scales. The authors reviewed the papers and considered whether the process of adaptation of the questionnaire had followed international recommendations, and whether its psychometric properties had been appropriately assessed.

Results: The search identified nine shoulder function assessment scales adapted to Spanish: Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire (DASH), Upper Limb Functional Index (ULFI), Simple Shoulder Test (SST), Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI), Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS), Shoulder Disability Questionnaire (SDQ), Western Ontario Rotator Cuff index (WORC), Western Ontario Shoulder Instability index (WOSI) and Wheelchair Users Shoulder Pain Index (WUSPI). The DASH was adapted on three occasions and the SPADI on two. The transcultural adaptation procedure was generally satisfactory, albeit somewhat less rigorous for the SDQ and WUSPI. Reliability was analyzed in all cases. Validity was not measured for one of the adaptations of the DASH, nor was it measured for the SDQ.

Conclusions: The transcultural adaptation was satisfactory and the psychometric properties analyzed were similar to both the original version and other versions adapted to other languages.

Keywords: Spanish version; cross-cultural adaptation; outcome assessment; questionnaire; shoulder.

Figure 1.

Flow diagram demonstrating the selection of studies for inclusion. MeSH: Medical Subject Headings.