[Applicability of the Spanish version of the Belloc's Physical Status Inquiry-PSI: a perceived health status measurement scale]

Abstract

The objective of this work is to present the adaptation into Spanish of the Belloc's Physical Status Inventory-PSI-, and to describe the results of the preliminary validity of the Spanish version of this instrument. The process of translation and back-translation of the PSI revealed a high linguistic compatibility of the English and Spanish versions of the instrument. The construct validity was verified, on the same patients, by comparison of the PSI's data with the diagnostic categories and the presence of chronicity reported by the primary care practitioner, with the mental health status established by the GHQ-28, and with the utilization of health resources. We could say dat, in general, the PSI is a reliable measure of health status, being especially useful for its application on the general population and in patients in contact with medical agencies. It is thus justifiable to continue analyzing, by means of more specific methodological designs, the performance of this instrument in different Spanish populations.