Importance: Limited availability of Spanish-translated clinical assessment tools perpetuates disparities in health care access for Spanish-speaking Latinos in the United States. The Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile® (MYMOP) is a patient-reported outcome measure that has demonstrated utility for use with older Latinos, but a licensed Spanish-language version is not available.
Objective: To develop, validate, and assess the readability of a culturally relevant translation of the MYMOP for U.S. Spanish-speaking Latinos.
Design: A multiphase, systematic translation process involving cognitive debriefing with target respondents and validity and readability analysis.
Setting: Data collected in-person or online within the general Latino community.
Participants: Forty Spanish-speaking volunteers age 45 years or older identifying as Latino/Hispanic, living in the United States, and reporting one or more chronic health conditions were recruited.
Outcomes and Measures: The Latin-American Spanish translation of the MYMOP (MYMOP–LAS), a person-centered tool that evaluates overall well-being, symptom severity, and symptom impact on daily activities, was cross-sectionally compared with the EuroQol Five-Dimension Five-Level (EQ-5D-5L) health-related quality of life measure.
Results: Participants found the MYMOP–LAS generally understandable but recommended revisions to improve clarity and alignment with colloquial Spanish. The MYMOP–LAS baseline profile score and three of four subscales correlated significantly with the EQ-5D-5L utility index score (r = −.473 to −.519, ps ≤ .013). The MYMOP–LAS met expectations for readability (approximately fifth-grade reading level).
Conclusions and Relevance: Preliminary evidence supports the validity and readability of the MYMOP–LAS for use with the U.S. Latino Spanish-speaking community. Additional research on the MYMOP–LAS’s psychometric properties is warranted.
Plain-Language Summary: In the United States, there is a shortage of clinical assessment tools for Spanish-speaking Latinos. This study aimed to develop a culturally relevant and readable Latin-American Spanish translation of the Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile® 2 (MYMOP–LAS). Forty Latinos age 45 yr and older living in the United States completed and critiqued a draft of the MYMOP–LAS. Participants understood the questionnaire but suggested changes to improve its clarity and alignment with more casual Spanish language. MYMOP–LAS scores aligned with another quality of life measure, corroborating MYMOP-LAS’s validity. The tool was readable at about a fifth-grade reading level. This study provides support for using the MYMOP–LAS with Spanish-speaking Latino communities in the United States.
Positionality Statement: The authors use Latino or Hispanic as a gender-inclusive term to describe participants but recognize the complexities of labeling ethnic and cultural identity. Three authors identify as Spanish–English bilingual Latino and two as English monolingual, non-Hispanic White. All authors have advanced training; most hold graduate or postgraduate degrees.
