title: Validation of the spanish version of the Roland-Morris questionnaire.
abstract: METHODS
  Validation of a translated, culturally adapted questionnaire.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To translate and culturally adapt the Spanish version of the Roland-Morris Questionnaire (RMQ), and to validate its use for assessing disability in Spanish patients with low back pain (LBP).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The RMQ is a reliable evaluation instrument for disability, but no validated Spanish version is available.
  
  
  METHODS
  Translation/retranslation of the English version of the RMQ was done blindly and independently by four different individuals, and adapted by a team that included five primary care physicians, three back specialists, and two methodologists. The study was done in the primary care setting in Mallorca, with 195 patients who visited their physician for acute or chronic LBP: 50 in the pilot study and 145 in the validation study. Individuals were given the RMQ and three other scales (VAS, Oswestry, and EuroQol) on their first visit and 14 days later. For the pilot study, on the first visit, patients were also given a second RMQ with the questions in a different order and they were subsequently asked for comprehension of each item of the questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 2 questions were partially rephrased after the pilot study, and no request for aid in interpretation was made during the validation study. Scores of the two RMQs on day 1 were 10.04 (SD, 5.01) and 10.9 (SD, 4.8), with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.874. The 95% limits of agreement by the Bland-Altman method was 0.340 +/- 4.81. Cronbach's alpha was 0.8375 (day 1) and 0.9140 (day 15) in the validation. Concurrent validity, measured by comparing RMQ responses with the results of VAS, was r = 0.347 (P = 0.0000) for day 1,and r = 0.570 (P = 0.0000) for day 15. Construct validity, tested by determining the correlation between the Spanish RMQ and the Spanish adaptation of the Oswestry Questionnaire, yielded r = 0.197 (P = 0.0061) on day 1 and r = 0.341 (P = 0.0000) on day 15.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Spanish version of the RMQ has good comprehensibility, internal consistency, and reliability, and is an adequate and useful instrument for the assessment of disability caused by LBP.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Científico, Fundación Kovacs, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. kovacs@kovacs.org
authors.forename: Francisco M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Kovacs
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Llobera
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Gil Del Real
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Abraira
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gestoso
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Kovacs-Atención
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Primaria Group
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003710:Demography; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating