Validation of an instrument to evaluate quality of life in the aging population: WHOQOL-AGE
Entity
UAM. Departamento de PsiquiatríaPublisher
BioMed CentralDate
2013-10-23Citation
10.1186/1477-7525-11-177
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 11 (2013): 177
ISSN
1477-7525DOI
10.1186/1477-7525-11-177Funded by
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement number 223071 (COURAGE in Europe), from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FIS research grants number PS09/00295 and PS09/01845, from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation’s ACI-Promociona (ACI2009-1010), and the Mental Health and Disability Instrument Library Platform (CIBERSAM)Project
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/223071Editor's Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-11-177Subjects
Adult; Age Factors; Factor Analysis; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Statistical; MedicinaRights
© 2013 Los autoresAbstract
Background: There is a need for short, specific instruments that assess quality of life (QOL) adequately in the older
adult population. The aims of the present study were to obtain evidence on the validity of the inferences that
could be drawn from an instrument to measure QOL in the aging population (people 50+ years old), and to test its
psychometric properties.
Methods: The instrument, WHOQOL-AGE, comprised 13 positive items, assessed on a five-point rating scale, and
was administered to nationally representative samples (n = 9987) from Finland, Poland, and Spain. Cronbach’s alpha
was employed to assess internal consistency reliability, whereas the validity of the questionnaire was assessed by
means of factor analysis, graded response model, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and unpaired t-test. Normative
values were calculated across countries and for different age groups.
Results: The satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices confirmed that the factorial structure of WHOQOL-AGE comprises
two first-order factors. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.88 for factor 1, and 0.84 for factor 2. Evidence supporting a global
score was found with a second-order factor model, according to the goodness-of-fit indices: CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.91,
RMSEA = 0.073. Convergent validity was estimated at r = 0.75 and adequate discriminant validity was also found.
Significant differences were found between healthy individuals (74.19 ± 13.21) and individuals with at least one
chronic condition (64.29 ± 16.29), supporting adequate known-groups validity.
Conclusions: WHOQOL-AGE has shown good psychometric properties in Finland, Poland, and Spain. Therefore,
considerable support is provided to using the WHOQOL-AGE to measure QOL in older adults in these countries,
and to compare the QOL of older and younger adults.
Files in this item
Google Scholar:Caballero Díaz, Francisco Félix
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Miret García, Marta
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Power, Michael J P
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Chatterji, Somnath
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Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Beata
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Koskinen, Seppo Väinö Pellervo
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Leonardi, Matilde A.
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Olaya, Beatriz
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Haro, Josep María
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Ayuso Mateos, José Luis
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