title: Psychometric properties of the Greek Haem-A-QoL for measuring quality of life in Greek haemophilia patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is an important health outcome measure in haemophilia. The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Greek version of Haem-A-QoL, a disease-specific questionnaire for haemophiliacs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Haem-A-QoL and SF-36 were administered to 118 adult haemophilia patients. Hypothesized scale structure, internal consistency (Cronbach's α ), and test-retest reliability, as well as various types of construct validity were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Scale structure of Haem-A-QoL was confirmed, with good item convergence (87%) and discrimination (80.6%) rates. Cronbach's α was >0.70 for all but one dimension (dealing) and test-retest reliability was significantly high. The strength of Spearman's correlations between Haem-A-QoL and SF-36 scales ranged from 0.25 to 0.75 (P < 0.01). Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that all but one Haem-A-QoL dimensions were important predictors of SF-36 scales. Known-groups comparisons yielded consistent support of the instruments' construct validity and significant relationships were identified for age, educational level, haemophilia type, disease severity, and viral infections.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the psychometric properties of the Greek version of Haem-A-QoL, resulting from this first time administration of the instrument to Greek adult haemophiliacs, confirmed it as a reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing haemophilia-specific HRQoL in Greece.
authors.affiliation: Blood Center and National Centre for Congenital Bleeding Disorders, Laiko General Hospital, Ag. Thoma 17, 11527 Athens, Greece ; Hellenic Open University, Parodos Aristotelous 18, 26335 Patra, Greece.
authors.forename: Agoritsa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varaklioti
authors.affiliation: Hellenic Open University, Parodos Aristotelous 18, 26335 Patra, Greece.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kontodimopoulos
authors.affiliation: Blood Center and National Centre for Congenital Bleeding Disorders, Laiko General Hospital, Ag. Thoma 17, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Katsarou
authors.affiliation: Hellenic Open University, Parodos Aristotelous 18, 26335 Patra, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Niakas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006262:Health; D006467:Hemophilia A / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult