title: A validation study of the English version of the AlQol 9 to measure quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life (QoL) is an important clinical and research outcome within the drug and alcohol abuse context. The AlQoL 9 is a specific questionnaire designed to assess health- and non-health-related consequences of alcoholism. The English version of the AlQoL 9 has not been validated using a larger sample.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the English version of AlQoL 9 in a sample of treatment-seeking individuals in Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 138 participants from inpatient and outpatient treatments facilities completed the AlQoL 9 test and the World Health Organisation Quality of Life Assessment-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). The study's investigative parameters included the demographic characteristics of the sample, internal structure, and convergent validity. Furthermore, correlations between the AlQoL 9 scale scores and the scores obtained from the WHOQOL-BREF test were investigated using Pearson product-moment correlation analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The English version of the AlQoL 9 attained a significant Cronbach's alpha of 0.825. The mean score obtained in the test was 21.92 (SD = 6.79). Using Varimax rotation, the AlQoL 9 yielded one principal factor that had accounted for 37.85% of variance. Convergent validity analysis demonstrated significant correlations (p < 0.001) between the AlQoL 9 scores and the scores of all four dimensions of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study demonstrated that the English version of the AlQoL 9 constitutes a valid and reliable research instrument for evaluating quality of life among alcohol-dependent individuals.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney .
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zubaran
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zolfaghari
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Foresti
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Emerson
authors.forename: Rishi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sud
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Surjadi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires