Cross-cultural adaptation of the Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand questionnaire: Spanish for Puerto Rico version.

The purpose of this study was to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire to Spanish for Puerto Rico. Five steps were followed for the cross-cultural adaptation: forward translations into Spanish for Puerto Rico, synthesis of the translations, back translations into English, revision by an expert committee, and field test of the prefinal version. Psychometric characteristics of reliability and construct validity were evaluated for the final version. Internal consistency of the final version was high (Cronbach's alpha=0.97) and item-to-total correlations were moderate (range from 0.44 to 0.85). Construct validity was evaluated by correlating the DASH with the scales of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Breast. Fair to moderate correlations found in this study between the DASH and most scales of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Breast support the construct validity of the Puerto Rico-Spanish DASH. The final version of the questionnaire was revised and approved by the Institute for Work and Health of Canada. Revisions to the original DASH English version are recommended. This version of the DASH is valid and reliable, and it can be used to evaluate outcomes in both clinical and research settings.