Performance of Hispanic inmates on the Spanish Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST)

The few psychological assessment measures commercially available for the assessment of Spanish-speaking populations lack strong empirical foundation. This is concerning given the rising numbers of Spanish speakers entering the forensic and correctional systems for whom valid assessment is difficult without linguistically and culturally appropriate measures. In this study, we translated and adapted the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST) into Spanish. The general purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric, linguistic, and conceptual equivalence of the English- and Spanish-language versions of the M-FAST in a sample of 102 bilingual Hispanic incarcerated males. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three feigning conditions (honest, uncoached, or coached) and completed the M-FAST in both English and Spanish on two separate occasions. Both language versions were psychometrically, linguistically, and conceptually equivalent.