title: SF-36v2 norms for New Zealanders aged 55-69 years.
abstract: Owing to an ageing population there is growing interest in research to improve the health of older New Zealanders. To facilitate the use of the internationally used SF-36 (version 2) measure of health and quality of life for this work in New Zealand we provide norms and comparative data from the first wave in a longitudinal study of a representative sample of New Zealanders aged 55-69 years. The use of the normative data from this study will facilitate comparisons of results from small clinical samples of older people with the general New Zealand population and international populations. The norms are also available for use in calculating summary physical and mental health summary scores for data from clinical trials and national surveys.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand. c.v.stephens@massey.ac.nz
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alpass
authors.forename: Merel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baars
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Towers
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stevenson
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D011788:Quality of Life; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results