[Participatory evaluation in place-based communities: adaptating and validating the Place Standard tool to Spanish context]

Abstract

Objective: Translation and cross-cultural adaptation to the Spanish context of the Place Standard tool to undertake participatory evaluations in place-based communities.

Method: A back-translation method was used to obtain an adapted version of the original Place Standard tool. The translated version was reviewed by a multidisciplinary committee of experts and validated using the Delphi method.

Results: The final version of the adapted Place Standards tool (Entornos de Vida in Spanish) consists of 14 dimensions and 99 items. 21% of the items presented semantic difficulties during the translation. Total consensus through the Delphi panel was reached on 72% of the items. The analysis resulted in changes to the wording, and organization of the items, and the inclusion of new or modified questions to reflect the characteristics of the Spanish context.

Conclusions: The validation of the Entornos de Vida tool will enable the evaluation of place-based communities characteristics/physical and socio-economic contexts in a participatory and equitable manner that focuses on social determinants of health. Its application in scenarios that take into account processes of local health action will support the practice of health promotion and equity, and centre the attention and action on the physical and socio-economic contexts with the aim to learn how places and municipal policies can affect health and well-being.

Keywords: Community participation; Determinantes sociales; Encuestas y cuestionarios; Equidad; Equity; Health promotion; Participación de la comunidad; Promoción de la salud; Salud urbana; Social determinants; Surveys and questionnaires; Urban health.