[Psychometric characteristics of the Spanish version of the Wender++-Utah Scale of retrospective evaluation of ADHD].

INTRODUCTION

The diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder among adolescents and adults, when they were not diagnosed during childhood, requires retrospective evaluation of the disorder. Parents are usually the best source of information about childhood conduct, but sometimes it is impossible to get them. The Wender-Utah Rating scale was developed as an aid in the retrospective evaluation of symptoms of attention-deficit, hyperactivity e impulsivity. The objective of this study was to determine the consistency and the validity of this questionnaire in Spanish.

METHOD

We evaluated medical students of the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Mexico with the Wender-Utah Questionnaire-Spanish. Some of them were evaluated again fifteen days later. We gave them the parents Rating Scale. We calculated the internal and the test-retest consistency and also the correlation between this Questionnaire and the Parents Rating Scale.

RESULTS

We evaluated 946 students, 400 had the test-retest procedure and 532 returned the Parents Rating Scale. The internal consistency was superior to .80. The correlation symptoms of attention deficit, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The test-retest consistency was at least .80, for the evaluation of with the Parents Rating Scale were moderate.

CONCLUSIONS

This Spanish translation of the Wender-Utah Questionnaire has adequate consistency and reproducibility so it can be used as a screening tool, also the validity of the different versions suggested can be evaluated.