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. 2007 Mar 2;16(1):23–33. doi: 10.1002/mpr.200

Psychometric evaluation of the Spanish version of CONNECT: a measure of continuity of care in mental health services

LM Chavez 1,✉, G Canino 1, PE Shrout 2, C Barrio 3, NC Ware 4
PMCID: PMC6878412  PMID: 17425245

Abstract

This article provides the results of the psychometric testing of the Spanish version of CONNECT(‐S), a measure of continuity of care in mental health services. CONNECT‐S is a multidimensional measure designed for use with seriously mentally ill respondents. Consisting of 12 scales and one single‐item indicator, it addresses qualities of interaction in current relationships between mental health service providers and consumers in five conceptual domains: (1) practitioner knowledge of their clients, (2) creating flexibility, (3) practitioner availability, (4) practitioner co‐ordination, and (5) smoothing transitions. One‐hundred‐and‐fifty participants took part in the study. Participants were recruited from mental health outpatient clinics in both the Puerto Rican (n = 109) and the San Antonio (n = 41) samples. Internal consistency for scales in a combined site estimate ranged from 0.68 to 0.96. Test‐retest reliability ranged from fair to substantial in all but one scale. Concurrent validity hypotheses based on a priori predictions were mostly supported. The Spanish translation and adaptation of CONNECT‐S provided sound psychometric results across both sites. CONNECT‐S addresses the gap in measurement of continuity of care for the two largest US Latino subgroups, Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans; and provides an encouraging starting point for a measure that is both relevant and culturally sensitive. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: continuity of care, mental health services, culturally sensitive, outcome assessment

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