[Adaptation and validation of a questionnaire on susceptibility, benefits and barriers in breast cancer screening with mammography].

Objectives: To adapt the <> on breast cancer screening to Spanish, and to asses its validity and reliability.

Methods: We assessed validation of a scale with 3 dimensions (susceptibility, benefits and barriers) with Likert responses in a case-control study. Cases were women not participating in a breast cancer screening program and controls consisted of participating women. A process of translation and back-translation was carried out and a technical committee analyzed discrepancies. Comprehension was tested in 17 women. Two hundred seventy-four women participated in the study. In 32 of these women, the questionnaire was administered twice after a 1-month interval to estimate its reliability.

Results: The intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.89, 0.70 and 0.90, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.71, 0.48 and 0.57 for susceptibility, benefits and barriers, respectively. Construct validity: from the factorial analysis, 3 factors were obtained explaining 34% of the variance. The confirmatory factorial analysis indicated acceptable goodness-of-fit of the data to the theoretical model. Older women perceived less susceptibility to breast cancer as well as greater barriers to attending screening. Women with a lower educational level perceived greater barriers. The scale did not seem to predict adherence to the program.

Conclusions: The adapted scale presents problems of validity and internal consistency. The dimensions of benefits and barriers require thorough adaptation and validation before the scale is used in Spanish women.