title: Exploratory factor analysis of a 16D Health-Related Quality of Life instrument with adolescents seeking help for early psychiatric symptoms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a widely studied phenomenon in health care. This study aimed to identify which factors can be extracted from a generic 16-dimension (16D) HRQoL instrument in a sample of adolescents seeking help for early psychiatric symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected at the Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), Finland, by an early intervention team. In total, 394 help-seeking adolescents (mean age 15.3 years, SD 2.14 years, 183 boys and 211 girls) completed a 16D HRQoL questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exploratory factor analysis (generalized least squares method, promax rotation) identified four factors in the 16D instrument. The first factor of "psychophysiological health" included the dimensions of vitality, breathing, distress, sleeping, physical appearance, mental functioning and depression. The second factor, "physical and social health", consisted of the items discomfort and symptoms, friends and elimination. The items hearing, eating and speech were loaded on factor three, "health in somatosensory functioning". Moreover, the single item of school and hobbies was loaded on factor four, "health in functioning ability". However, the items of vision and mobility were not loaded on any factor. Since the 16D instrument was originally designed for 11-15-year-old adolescents, analysis was repeated using a subsample of this age group (n = 245).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results here suggest that the 16D instrument consists of four factors and forms its own latent variable structure in this specific sample of adolescents seeking help for early psychiatric symptoms. However, items such as vision, mobility and school and hobbies should be interpreted with caution as a part of the factor structure of a 16D instrument among this population.
authors.affiliation: a Niklas Granö, Department of Psychiatry , Helsinki University Central Hospital , Finland.
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Granö
authors.affiliation: b Tuula Kieseppä, Department of Psychiatry , Helsinki University Central Hospital , Finland.
authors.forename: Tuula
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kieseppä
authors.affiliation: c Marjaana Karjalainen, Department of Psychiatry , Helsinki University Central Hospital , Finland.
authors.forename: Marjaana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karjalainen
authors.affiliation: d Mikko Roine, Department of Psychiatry , Helsinki University Central Hospital , Finland.
authors.forename: Mikko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roine
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012890:Sleep; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: 16D Health-Related Quality of Life instrument; Adolescents; Exploratory factor analysis; Help seekers for psychiatric symptoms