title: Content validity, construct validity, and reliability of the WHOQOL-Bref in a population of Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients.
abstract: In this study, the psychometric properties of a quality of life scale, the WHOQOL-Bref, were examined in a population of 533 Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients. Participants underwent two semistructured interviews in order to obtain Axis-I and II diagnoses, according to DSM-IV. Besides the WHOQOL-Bref they also completed questionnaires for measuring psychopathological symptoms (SCL-90) and perceived social support (PSSS). Scores on 25 of the 26 questions of the WHOQOL-Bref had a good distribution. Similar to previous findings, exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure. A priori expected associations were found between the domains of the WHOQOL-Bref, on the one hand, and dimensions of the SCL-90 and the PSSS-score, on the other hand, indicating good construct validity. The internal consistency of the four domains of the WHOQOL-Bref ranged from 0.66 to 0.80. Domain scores of the WHOQOL-Bref correlated around 0.92 with the WHOQOL-100 domain scores. Relatively low correlations were found between demographic characteristics (age and sex) and WHOQOL-Bref domain scores. It is concluded that the content validity, construct validity, and the reliability of the WHOQOL-Bref in a population of adult Dutch psychiatric outpatients are good. The WHOQOL-Bref, therefore, is an adequate measure for assessing quality of life at the domain level in a population of adult psychiatric outpatients.
authors.affiliation: Stichting GGZ Midden Brabant, 5000 AT Tilburg, The Netherlands. f.trompenaars@inter.nl.net
authors.forename: Fons J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Trompenaars
authors.forename: Erik D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Masthoff
authors.forename: Guus L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Van Heck
authors.forename: Paul P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Hodiamont
authors.forename: Jolanda
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Vries
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires