Instruments in Spanish to Assess the Mental Health of Adults With Intellectual Disabilities. A Systematic Review.
Clara González-Sanguino, Alba Ayuso-Lanchares, Sara Castrillo-San Mamés and 1 others
PMID 40927854WHAT IT FOUND
Validated Spanish tools for mental health in adults with intellectual disabilities are scarce.
Most are unvalidated translations, rely on caregivers rather than self-report, and lack rigorous testing. Clinicians should treat these scores as low-confidence and seek direct input where possible.
Key findings
01Only 13 instruments were identified, and their quality was rated medium-low due to poor sampling and incomplete validity testing.
02Most tools are caregiver-reported, with only one instrument allowing self-report, which limits the patient's own voice in assessment.
03Eleven of the 13 instruments were adaptations of Anglo-Saxon versions, raising concerns about cultural appropriateness for Spanish-speaking populations.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The review only included articles in English and Spanish, which may miss relevant tools from other contexts. Most primary studies used convenience samples, limiting how well the tools apply to the general population. The severity of intellectual disability was often not specified in the included studies, making it unclear if the tools work for those with severe impairments. Many instruments were not freely available, hindering independent verification of their content.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was funded by MICIU/AEI and ERDF/EU.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these Spanish tools are clinically robust. The review found that most are unvalidated adaptations of English tests with poor sampling, meaning a 'normal' or 'abnormal' score may not accurately reflect the patient's mental health.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →