Validation of the spanish version of the Roland-Morris questionnaire.
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.
Kovacs
Francisco M
FM
Departamento Científico, Fundación Kovacs, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. kovacs@kovacs.org
Llobera
Joan
J
Gil Del Real
María Teresa
MT
Abraira
Victor
V
Gestoso
Mario
M
Fernández
Carmen
C
Primaria Group
Kovacs-Atención
KA
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