title: The quality of life of men who have sex with men in China: reliability and validity testing of the SF-36 questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to assess the psychometric properties of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in the men who have sex with men (MSM) population in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 373 MSM from September to December, 2012, in Zhengzhou and Huludao City, China. Internal reliability of the questionnaire was calculated by Cronbach's α coefficient. Validity was analyzed through construct validity, divisional validity, and collective validity testing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall Cronbach's α coefficient of the SF-36 questionnaire was 0.943, while the Cronbach's α coefficients for each of the dimensions were all > 0.70. Results showed that the SF-36 questionnaire was reliable and valid.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provided evidence that the SF-36 is an acceptable, valid and reliable instrument in evaluating the quality of life of MSM in Mainland China.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Statistics, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Statistics, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Statistics, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Bingxue
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Statistics, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Statistics, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Dongbo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006293:Health Promotion; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult