Objective: To cross-culturally adapt the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening Version (HHIE-S) for use with older Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans.
Subjects and setting: Two different samples were used. First, a convenience sample of 100 older community-dwelling Mexican American men and women in San Antonio, Texas, was used to test technical equivalence of the Spanish and English language versions of the HHIE-S. Second, a neighborhood-based sample of older Mexican Americans was used to establish conceptual (n = 433) and criterion equivalence (n = 381) of the two HHIE-S language versions.
Methods: Independent forward and back translations were done to create a Spanish language version of the HHIE-S. In the convenience sample, subjects were administered the English and Spanish HHIE-S in random order on separate days. In the neighborhood sample, the HHIE-S was given on one occasion in the language of the subject's preference. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Geriatric Depression scale to see if the two language versions of the HHIE-S were similarly associated with depression (conceptual equivalence). Hearing impairment was assessed using the Welch-Allyn Audioscope to see if the two language versions were similarly associated with an audiometric measure for hearing loss (criterion equivalence).
Results: In the convenience sample, the overall mean (SD) Spanish and English HHIE-S scores were 6.2 (8.7) and 6.2 (9.3), respectively (P = 1.00). Total scores of the English and Spanish versions were highly correlated (r = .89), and regression analysis indicated that the two language versions gave nearly identical results. In the neighborhood-based sample, men had higher HHIE-S scores than women (OR 2.0, 95% CI = 1.3-3.5). Having depressive symptoms (OR 3.2, 95% CI = 1.9-5.5) or hearing impairment (OR 6.1, 95% CI = 3.5-10.5) was associated with higher HHIE-S scores. After adjustment for gender, depressive symptoms, and/or hearing impairment, the language of interview was not associated with HHIE-S score.
Conclusion: We have developed and tested a Spanish translation of the HHIE-S that yields equivalent results to those obtained with the English version in bilingual Mexican Americans. The Spanish HHIE-S presented here is suitable for clinical use and research studies involving older Mexican Americans.