CancerSupportSource-Spanish: Development of a Distress Screening Measure for Spanish-Speaking Hispanic and Latino Individuals with Cancer.

Introduction: CancerSupportSource (CSS), a distress screening and referral program, identifies unmet needs of people with cancer and links them to resources and support. We developed and validated a Spanish-language version (CSS-Spanish) to better serve Hispanic and Latino communities and promote health equity. Methods: The 25-item CSS-Spanish was created leveraging rigorous translation methods and cognitive interviews to ensure cultural relevance and topical breadth. A total of 210 Spanish-speaking Hispanic and Latino individuals completed CSS-Spanish and comparison measures. Psychometric analyses examined dimensionality and statistical validation, and determined scoring thresholds for depression and anxiety risk subscales. Results: CSS-Spanish represented key concerns across five factors and exhibited strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability, convergent validity, and known-groups validity. Risk subscales demonstrated adequate sensitivity. Conclusion: CSS-Spanish is a reliable, valid multidimensional distress screener that rapidly assesses needs of Hispanic and Latino individuals. Embedded depression and anxiety risk flags can support staff in identifying those with high-acuity needs.

HIV Support Source: Development of a Distress Screening Measure for Adults with HIV.

To provide an effective, multidimensional, and psychometrically valid measure to screen for distress among people with HIV, we developed and assessed the psychometric properties of HIV Support Source, a distress screening, referral, and support program designed to identify the unmet needs of adults with HIV and link them to desired resources and support. Development and testing were completed in three phases: (1) item generation and initial item pool testing (N = 375), (2) scale refinement via exploratory factor analysis (N = 220); external/internal item quality, and judging theoretical and practical implications of items, and (3) confirmatory validation (N = 150) including confirmatory factor analysis along with reliability and validity analyses to corroborate dimensionality and psychometric properties of the final measure. Nonparametric receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses determined scoring thresholds for depression and anxiety risk subscales. The final measure comprises 17-items representing four domains of concern: emotional well-being, financial and practical needs, physical well-being, and HIV treatment and sexual health, plus one screening item assessing tobacco and substance use. Our analyses showed strong internal consistency reliability, a replicable factor structure, and adequate convergent, discriminant, and known groups validity. Sensitivity of 2-item depression and 2-item anxiety risk subscales was 0.90 and 0.79, respectively. HIV Support Source is a reliable and valid multidimensional measure of distress that also screens for risk for clinically significant depression and anxiety. It can be implemented within a distress screening, referral, and follow-up program to rapidly assess and support the unmet needs of adults with HIV.