Background: To adapt and to validate in a Spanish population the Perception of Restraint Use Questionnaire (PRUQ), which assesses the importance that professionals give to the use of physical restraints when caring for older adults.
Methods: After a process of forward-back translation and linguistic adaptation, a Spanish version of the original questionnaire was obtained. A descriptive cross-sectional multicenter study was then carried out. Based on non-probability sampling, 20 centers from three Spanish regions were selected; 830 professionals agreed to participate.
Results: 15 of the 17 items of the original questionnaire were translated literally and two required minor modifications.All were considered acceptable by an expert panel(content validity index of 0.89); a pilot study confirmed the adequate feasibility of the questionnaire. The principal components analysis identified three dimensions that explained 66.2% of variance. The confirmatory factor analysis of this tridimensional model showed an acceptable fit [CFI = 0.936; RMSEA = 0.080], being factor loadings and factor correlations statistically significant (p<0.001). The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the total score was 0.92 and the test-retest reliability (ICCa) was 0.87 (95%CI: 0.78 to 0.92) over an interval of three weeks.
Conclusions: The Spanish version of the PRUQ shows good psychometric characteristics and is adapted to the cultural context of this country. It may be considered a useful tool to assess in which situations professionals consider the use of physical restraints most necessary, helping to design training activities aimed at rationalizing its application.