Validation of the Spanish version of the MD Anderson symptom inventory – heart failure (MDASI-HF-Spanish) module

Background The lack of a validated symptom assessment instrument in Spanish for patients with cancer and heart failure (HF) can affect the care and impede the recruitment and participation of Spanish-speaking patients in clinical trials. Spanish is the second most common language spoken by the largest and most rapidly growing racial/ethnic minority group in the United States. To bridge the language barrier and improve symptom management in Spanish-speaking patients with cancer and HF, the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Heart Failure (MDASI-HF) was translated to Spanish (MDASI-HF- Spanish). Aim To validate the MDASI-HF-Spanish symptom assessment instrument. Methods Following standard forward and backward translation of the original and previously validated English version of the MDASI-HF, a cognitive debriefing with nine native Spanish speaking participants was conducted to evaluate the participants’ understanding and comprehension of the MDASI-HF-Spanish. To examine the comprehensibility, acceptability and psychometric properties of the translated instrument, the MDASI-HF-Spanish was tested in a convenience sample of 50 Spanish speaking patients with a diagnosis of cancer and HF. Evidence for the psychometric validity of the MDASI-HF-Spanish was demonstrated via its internal consistency reliability and known-group validity. Results Overall, the participants had no problems with the understandability, readability, or number of questions asked. The MDASI-HF-Spanish subscales showed good internal consistency reliability, with a Cronbach’s coefficient alpha of 0.94 (13 core cancer symptoms), 0.92 (8 heart failure symptoms), and 0.90 (6 interference items) respectively. The MDASI-HF-Spanish was able to differentiate the functional status between patients based on the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification. Conclusions The MDASI-HF-Spanish is linguistically and psychometrically valid with ease of completion, relevance, and comprehensibility among the participants, and it can be a useful tool for clinical management and research purposes.