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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Susan V. Eisen, PhD¹, Mariana Gerena, PhD², Gayatri Ranganathan, MS³, Dharma Cortes, PhD⁴, Glorisa Canino, PhD⁵, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhD⁶, Mark Glickman, PhD¹, Vivian Febo, PhD⁵, Cristina Magana, PhD⁷, Jesus Soto, PhD⁵, and Pradipta Seal, MS¹. (1) Health Services, Boston University School of Public Health, CHQOER, EN Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, 200 Springs Road (152), Bedford, MA 01730, 781-687-2858, seisen@bu.edu, (2) Institute on Urban Health Research, Northeastern University, 503 Stearns, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, (3) MetaWorks, Inc., 10 President's Landing, Medford, MA 02155, (4) Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School, 1493 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, (5) Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, Office A928, San Juan, PR 00935, (6) Center for Reducing Health Disparities, University of California Davis, School of Medicine, 2921 Stockton Blvd., Suite #1400, Sacramento, CA 95817, (7) Department of Psychology, California State University Fresno, 5241 North Maple Avenue, Fresno, CA 93740

Latinos are the largest racial/ethnic group in the U.S., and Spanish is the second most widely spoken language. To assess mental health status and treatment outcomes among Latinos, culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment instruments are needed. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties and responsiveness of the Spanish translation of the revised Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-24), a widely used, self-report mental health assessment instrument developed and initially validated in English. After translating and adapting the instrument, it was field tested (in Spanish) among adults in three Latino subgroups, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Mexicans receiving inpatient (N=283) or outpatient (N=311) mental health services at one of 14 programs in Massachusetts, Puerto Rico or California. BASIS-24 was completed within 72 hours of admission and up to 48 hours before discharge (for inpatients) and at intake and 30-60 days later for outpatients. Validation measures included the SF-12, other self-report mental health ratings, measures of functional status, clinician ratings of mental health, and DSM-IV psychiatric diagnoses. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated adequate fit for the six-factor model obtained from the English instrument (adjusted goodness of fit index=.88, and comparative fit index=.91). Internal consistency and test-retest reliability exceeded .70 for five of the six factors and for the overall summary score. Concurrent and discriminant validity was partially supported. For both inpatients and outpatients, improvement following treatment was statistically significant, although effect sizes were small. Results are discussed in terms of both measurement issues and mental health disparities among Latinos.

Learning Objectives:

Following this presentation participants will be able to
• articulate the rationale and need for developing and validating assessment instruments among people from different cultures;
• describe methods used in assessing reliability and validity of assessment instruments;
• evaluate the reliability, validity and responsiveness of the Spanish BASIS-24 survey; and
• discuss the challenges faced in evaluating mental health treatment outcomes of Latinos.

Keywords: Latino Mental Health, Outcome Measures

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Handout (.ppt format, 165.5 kb)