title: Hablamos juntos (together we speak): a brief patient-reported measure of the quality of interpretation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study evaluates the psychometric properties of three newly developed items assessing the quality of interpretation from the patient's perspective among Spanish-speaking limited English proficient Latino patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors examined the psychometric properties of a patient-reported measure of quality of interpretation using a cross-sectional survey study of 1,590 adult Spanish-speaking limited English proficient Latinos in the United States. Quality of interpretation, doctor communication, and satisfaction with care were assessed using a three survey-item, an independent multiple-item measure, and a single-item measure, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-nine percent (1,104) of patients surveyed used interpreters. Cronbach's alpha for the three items assessing interpreter quality was 0.31, while dropping item three resulted in an alpha of 0.56. Items one and two were moderately correlated with doctor communication (r=0.39) and satisfaction with care scores (r=0.21) supporting construct validity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Two out of three survey items can be scaled to measure quality of interpretation from the patient's perspective. Quality of interpretation reported by patients is moderately associated with doctor communication and satisfaction with care.
authors.affiliation: US Department of Veterans Affairs and Division of General Internal Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Efrain
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Talamantes
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lourdes R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Guerrero
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA ; School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Carol M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mangione
authors.affiliation: Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA ; Center for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Leo S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Morales
keywords: Latinos; doctor–patient communication; interpreters; satisfaction with care