title: Structural validity of a 16-item abridged version of the Cervantes Health-Related Quality of Life scale for menopause: the Cervantes Short-Form Scale.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Cervantes Scale is a specific health-related quality of life questionnaire that was originally developed in Spanish to be used in Spain for women through and beyond menopause. It contains 31 items and is time-consuming. The aim of this study was to produce an abridged version with the same dimensional structure and with similar psychometric properties.
  
  
  METHODS
  A representative sample of 516 postmenopausal women (mean [SD] age, 57 [4.31] y) seen in outpatient gynecology clinics and extracted from an observational cross-sectional study was used. Item analysis, internal consistency reliability, item-total and item-dimension correlations, and item correlation with the 12-item Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey Version 2.0 were studied. Dimensional and full-model confirmatory factor analyses were used to check structure stability. A threefold cross-validation method was used to obtain stable estimates by means of multigroup analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The scale was reduced to a 16-item version, the Cervantes Short-Form Scale, containing four main dimensions (Menopause and Health, Psychological, Sexuality, and Couple Relations), with the first dimension composed of three subdimensions (Vasomotor Symptoms, Health, and Aging). Goodness-of-fit statistics were better than those of the extended version (χ(2)/df = 2.493; adjusted goodness-of-fit index, 0.802; parsimony comparative fit index, 0.749; root mean standard error of approximation, 0.054). Internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α = 0.880). Correlations between the extended and the reduced dimensions were high and significant in all cases (P < 0.001; r values ranged from 0.90 for Sexuality to 0.969 for Vasomotor Symptoms).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Cervantes Scale can be reduced to a 16-item abridged version (Cervantes Short-Form Scale) that maintains the original dimensional structure and psychometric properties. At 51% of the original length, this version can be administered faster, making it especially suitable for routine medical practice.
authors.affiliation: From the 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain; 2Clínica DIATROS, Barcelona, Spain; 3Instituto Palacios de Salud y Medicina de la Mujer, Madrid, Spain; 4Department of Methodology, School of Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; and 5Health Economics and Outcomes Research Department, Pfizer SLU, Alcobendas, Spain.
authors.forename: Pluvio J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Coronado
authors.forename: Rafael Sánchez
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Borrego
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palacios
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rejas
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires