Spanish Translation, Cross-Cultural Validation and Test-Retest Reliability of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT)

Background: The adult social care outcomes toolkit (ASCOT) was developed in England to measure the domains of quality of life most affected by long-term care services. This study aimed to translate and culturally adapt the ASCOT-SCT4 into Spanish, and to investigate its internal consistency, construct validity and test-retest reliability in Spanish care service users.

Methods: The ASCOT-SCT4 was translated and culturally adapted according to international guidelines. To assess the content validity of the pre-final version, cognitive debriefing interviews were conducted with Spanish care recipients. A face-to-face survey of care recipients was conducted to assess internal consistency and construct validity. Construct validity was tested by examining whether the hypothesised associations between ASCOT-SCT4 and other constructs were significant. Finally, a follow-up interview was completed to assess test-retest reliability.

Results: The cognitive debriefing interviews indicated that most of the items were found to be reliable, but significant modifications were required in the Control over daily life and Dignity domains, to ensure their comprehensibility. Acceptable internal consistency was achieved (Cronbach’s alpha is 0.65). Construct validity was supported by the significant relationships found between the ASCOT-SCT4 and other related constructs. Evidence of high test-retest reliability was found (ICC = 0.89).

Conclusions: The Spanish version of ASCOT-SCT4 has been shown to be a valid cross-cultural adaptation for use with users of care services. The analysis also supports its internal consistency, construct validity and test-retest reliability. The next step will be to obtain the ASCOT scores based on Spanish preferences