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The Spanish version of the Clinical Analysis Questionnaire: a precautionary note
A Vélez-Díaz1, F González-Reigosa
1Juvenile Court Mental Health Clinic, Miami, Florida, USA.
Journal of Personality Assessment
|January 1, 1987
Summary
The Spanish Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ) has significant translation errors, hindering its use in psychological evaluations for Spanish speakers. Over a third of items require correction for accurate assessment.
Area of Science:
- Psychological assessment
- Clinical psychology
- Psychometrics
Background:
- The Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ) is a tool used in psychological evaluations.
- Ensuring the accuracy of translated assessment tools is crucial for valid results.
- Previous research has not extensively evaluated the Spanish version of the CAQ.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ).
- To identify and document grammatical and syntactical errors in the Spanish CAQ.
- To assess the impact of translation quality on the CAQ's utility for Spanish-speaking clients.
Main Methods:
- A detailed linguistic analysis of the Spanish CAQ was performed.
- Items were compared against the original English version for translation accuracy.
- The prevalence of grammatical and syntactical errors was quantified.
Main Results:
- The Spanish CAQ contains numerous grammatical and syntactical errors.
- At least 36% of the items exhibited poor translation from the English original.
- These errors significantly compromise the questionnaire's usefulness in psychological evaluations.
Conclusions:
- The current Spanish version of the CAQ is not suitable for reliable psychological evaluations.
- Significant revisions are required to improve the translation quality and clinical utility.
- Further validation studies are needed for the revised Spanish CAQ.