Cross-cultural translation and validation of the ‘gut feelings’ questionnaire into Spanish and Catalan

Abstract

Background: The gut feelings questionnaire (GFQ) is the only tool developed to assess the presence of a ‘sense of alarm’ or a ‘sense of reassurance’ in the diagnostic process of general practitioners (GPs). It was created in Dutch and English and has validated versions in French, German and Polish.

Objectives: To obtain a cross-cultural translation of the GFQ into Spanish and Catalan and to assess the structural properties of the translated versions.

Methods: A six-step procedure including forward and backward translations, consensus, and cultural and linguistic validation was performed for both languages. Internal consistency, factor structure, and content validity were assessed.

Results: Internal consistency was high for both questionnaires (Cronbach’s alpha for GFQ-Spa = 0.94 and GFQ-Cat = 0.95). The principal component analysis identified one factor with the sense of alarm and the sense of reassurance as two opposites, explaining 76% of the total variance for the GFQ-Spa, and 77% for the GFQ-Cat.

Conclusion: Spanish and Catalan versions of the GFQ were obtained. Both have been cross-culturally adapted and showed good structural properties.

Keywords:

• Gut feelings
• intuition
• questionnaire
• general practice
• clinical decision making

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Eugenia Carandell, Sara Davies, Gabriel Moragues, Ignacio Ram ırez, Bartomeu Riera, Christian Ruiz, Paloma S. Montes, Alfonso Villegas, and Christopher Yates for their invaluable help during the process. The authors also thank all the Spanish and Latin American GPs who helped with their useful comments; and the Balearic Cancer League (AECC-Baleares) for their support.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Majorca Primary Care Department under grant PI005/17; semFYC under the Isabel Fernández PhD grant 2016; and Balearic Cancer League (AECC-Baleares).