Psychometric properties of the World Health Organization quality of life assessment – brief in methadone patients: a validation study in northern Taiwan

Harm Reduction Journal

Tony Szu-Hsien Lee⁷  Chiang-Shan R Li⁶  Wei-Ti Chen⁵  Chun-Wei Huang²  Wei-Hsin Wu³  Muh-Yong Yen¹  Yung-Change Tuan⁴  Tiffany Szu-Ting Fu⁷ 

[1] Department of Infection, Taipei City Hospital, Branch for Disease Control and Prevention, No 100 Kunming Street, Taipei 10844, Taiwan;Department of Psychiatry, Lotung Poh-Ai Hospital, 83 Nan Chang St., Lotung, Yilan 265, Taiwan;Department of Psychiatry, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Keelung Hospital, No 268 Sin 2nd Rd, Keelung City 20148, Taiwan;Department of Psychiatry, New Taipei City Hospital, No.198, Yingshi Rd., Banqiao Dist., New Taipei City 220, Taiwan;School of Nursing, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06519, USA;Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 34 Park Street, New Haven 06519, USA;Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, He-ping East Road, Section 1, Taipei 10610, Taiwan

关键词: Taiwan;    Injection drug users;    WHOQOL-BREF;    Quality of life;    Psychometrics;    Methadone;   

Others  :  809780
DOI  :  10.1186/1477-7517-10-37

 received in 2011-12-13, accepted in 2013-12-02,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Quality of life (QOL) is an important outcome measure in the treatment of heroin addiction. The Taiwan version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment (WHOQOL-BREF [TW]) has been developed and studied in various groups, but not specifically in a population of injection drug users. The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-BREF (TW) in a sample of injection drug users undergoing methadone maintenance treatment.

Methods

A total of 553 participants were interviewed and completed the instrument. Item-response distributions, internal consistency, corrected item-domain correlation, criterion-related validity, and construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis were evaluated.

Results

The frequency distribution of the 4 domains of the WHOQOL-BREF (TW) showed no floor or ceiling effects. The instrument demonstrated adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were higher than 0.7 across the 4 domains) and all items had acceptable correlation with the corresponding domain scores (r = 0.32-0.73). Correlations (p < 0.01) of the 4 domains with the 2 benchmark items assessing overall QOL and general health were supportive of criterion-related validity. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded marginal goodness-of-fit between the 4-domain model and the sample data.

Conclusions

The hypothesized WHOQOL-BREF measurement model was appropriate for the injection drug users after some adjustments. Despite different patterns found in the confirmatory factor analysis, the findings overall suggest that the WHOQOL-BREF (TW) is a reliable and valid measure of QOL among injection drug users and can be utilized in future treatment outcome studies. The factor structure provided by the study also helps to understand the QOL characteristics of the injection drug users in Taiwan. However, more research is needed to examine its test-retest reliability and sensitivity to changes due to treatment.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Fu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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