Translation, Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Simple Shoulder Test to Spanish

BACKGROUND: The validation of widely used scales facilitates the comparison across international patient samples. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to translate, culturally adapt and validate the Simple Shoulder Test into Argentinian Spanish. METHODS: The Simple Shoulder Test was translated from English into Argentinian Spanish by two independent translators, translated back into English and evaluated for accuracy by an expert committee to correct the possible discrepancies. It was then administered to 50 patients with different shoulder conditions.Psycometric properties were analyzed including internal consistency, measured with Cronbach´s Alpha, test-retest reliability at 15 days with the interclass correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The internal consistency, validation, was an Alpha of 0,808, evaluated as good. The test-retest reliability index as measured by intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.835, evaluated as excellent. CONCLUSION: The Simple Shoulder Test translation and it´s cultural adaptation to Argentinian-Spanish demonstrated adequate internal reliability and validity, ultimately allowing for its use in the comparison with international patient samples.