Adaptation and validation of the Spanish version of the Leisure Assessment Inventory.
The Spanish LAI is valid, so you can safely measure leisure participation with Spanish-speaking adults who have disabilities.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Marta and colleagues translated the Leisure Assessment Inventory into Spanish. They then checked if the new Spanish items still measured leisure skills the same way the English version does.
Adults with mixed disabilities living in Spain answered the questions. The team ran statistics to see if scores made sense and matched other known measures.
What they found
The Spanish LAI passed the key validity tests. Scores hung together as one construct and lined up with related tools, so the authors judged it ready for use.
How this fits with other research
Rasing et al. (1992) drew the blueprint. Their early paper showed the full translate-back-translate-pilot routine that Marta et al. followed decades later.
Santos et al. (2014) did the same kind of job for Portuguese. Both teams proved you can take a Western disability scale, adapt it, and keep its psychometric strength.
Davis et al. (2009) gives a warning tale. They found the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale worked poorly in adults with intellectual disability, reminding us that not every translation succeeds. Marta’s positive results stand out against that negative backdrop.
Why it matters
If you serve Spanish-speaking adults, you now have a brief, free tool that profiles leisure interests and skills. Use it during intake to pick meaningful goals, justify community outings, or show funding agencies why recreation matters. One quick interview yields data you can graph and defend.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Participation--defined as engagement in life situations, including leisure and recreational activities--is associated with the improvement of people with disabilities' quality of life. Several specific instruments assess leisure, but none of them has been adapted to the Spanish context. The goal of this study is to adapt and validate the Spanish version of the Leisure Assessment Inventory (LAI; B. A. Hawkins, P. Ardovino, N. B. Rogers, A. Foose, & N. Olsen, 2002 ). The adaptation of the original version of the LAI was carried out through translation and backward translation, and the validity of the instrument was analyzed. Descriptive analyses (means and standard deviations) were conducted for each LAI index. Construct validity was assessed through Pearson's product-moment correlation among the diverse LAI indexes, and convergent-discriminant validity through the correlation of the diverse indexes and the measures of quality of life. Results show that the LAI indexes are valid measures of the attributes of leisure behavior (participation, preference, interest, and barriers). This study provides a valid instrument to assess the participation profile of adults with disabilities in leisure activities.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-50.3.233