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Background/Objective The aim of the study was to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (Mini-MAC) in a large sample of patients with non-metastatic, resected cancer. Methods Prospective, observational, multicenter study for which 914 patients were recruited from 15 Spanish hospitals. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, validity and reliability analyses were conducted. Results Factor-analytic results indicated a 4-factor structure of the Spanish version of the Mini-MAC. Three subscales have psychometric properties similar to those of Helplessness, Anxious preoccupation, and Cognitive avoidance of the original the Mini-MAC. The Fighting spirit and the Fatalism subscales were combined on the Positive attitude scale. The four factor-derived scale scores exhibited acceptable accuracy for individual measurement purposes, as well as stability over time in test-retest assessments at 6 months. Validity assessments found meaningful relations between the derived scale scores, and Brief Symptom Inventory depression and anxiety scores and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy spiritual well-being scores. Conclusions The Spanish version of the Mini-MAC provides reliable and valid measures for patients with non-metastatic, resected cancer, and results corroborate the instrument’s cross-cultural validity.

This study mainly compared the prevalence of internalizing symptoms of 834 Spanish and 159 Latin-American immigrant adolescents. Participants completed self-report measures about depression, anxiety and somatic symptoms and a socio-demographic questionnaire. The results indicated that being Latin-American was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms and being female was related to higher depressive and anxiety symptoms. Gender differences were more prevalent in Spaniards than in Latinos, with girls showing more symptoms than boys. High socio-economic status was negatively related to depressive symptoms and anxiety. The results may alert clinicians of the importance of assessing depressive symptoms in Latino adolescents in order to treat this group of youths effectively.