“Validation of a Spanish version of the “Unité Rhumatologique des Affections de la Main” (URAM) Scale.”

ABSTRACT Background In health care, quality-of-life surveys and questionnaires related to care are becoming increasingly important as a measure of its quality. There is currently no Spanish version of the URAM scale, which makes it suitable for hand pathology.The purposes of this study were to develop a Spanish version of the URAM and perform a transcultural adaptation of it, analyzing the result for reliability, validity and sensitivity to changes. Methods The questionnaire was evaluated for patients with Dupuytren's disease and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The cohort study subjects were interviewed at three points in time (baseline, three days after intervention, and one month after), administering the QuickDASH, URAM, and SF12 (CF12= physical component, CM12= mental component) questionnaires at baseline and after intervention; and only the URAM at 3 days. Content validity was evaluated using Cronbach α. The distribution of the factorial loads of the items and the pattern of the answers were checked. Responsiveness was evaluated by the size of the effect and the reliable rate of change. Convergent and divergent validity was performed using Spearman's r between the different questionnaires. Results The study was conducted with 106 patients. The mean baseline scores were: URAM= 14.8, QuickDash= 41.6, CF12= 39.3 and CM12= 49.4. Ceiling or floor effects were not observed in the Spanish URAM. The Cronbach α= 0.853 explains 49.6% of the variance. The study had a high reproducibility (ICC= 0.939). Size effect, measured as differences in scores, was moderate for URAM (-0.69) and QuickDash (-0.51); and low for CF12 and CM12. The correlation of URAM with QuickDash was high (r= 0.716), and moderate with DD and CTS. Conclusion The Spanish version of the URAM is a valid and reliable tool for use in assessing hand pathology.