Cross-cultural adaptation and content validation of the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) into Chilean Spanish to assess communication skills in health students

Abstract

Introduction: Communication and empathy are essential competencies in the clinical training of health professionals. To evaluate these skills from patient’s perspective, culturally appropriate and methodologically validated instruments are required. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) survey translated into Spanish. Methods: A descriptive methodological study was conducted, including direct translation, linguistic synthesis, back-translation, and semantic review of the original English-language instrument. Subsequently, a panel of 12 experts in clinical education in speech-language pathology assessed the clarity, relevance, and cultural adequacy of each item through a structured evaluation process. Consensus was reached after two rounds of review. Results: The adaptation process yielded a Spanish version of the PSQ comprising 11 items with a four-point Likert scale, excluding the neutral option. The expert panel approved all items, suggesting minor wording adjustments in four of them. No items were removed or added, and the adapted instrument was deemed appropriate for use in formative clinical settings. Conclusions: The adapted Spanish version of the PSQ demonstrates adequate content validity for assessing communication and empathy skills from the patient’s perspective. Further empirical validation is recommended to evaluate its psychometric properties in applied contexts.