Reliability, Validity and Measurement Invariance of the WHO ’s Quality of Life Scale among Women of Reproductive Age Living with HIV in Ethiopia - a Quasi-Experimental Study

AbstractDespite its widespread global adoption and use, studies have not examined measurement invariance of the 31-question World Health Organization Quality of Life –HIV BREF scale among HIV/AIDS patients. The current study seeks to (a) evaluate the scale’s internal consistency reliability, and concurrent validity, and (b) test if the same latent construct of quality of life was consistently measured at two time-points, for a sample of HIV-positive women fr om two sites in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The study used data from two cross-sectional interviews with 926 HIV-positive women of reproductive age who participated in a quasi-experimental study. All participants were receiving antiretroviral therapy and related treatment support services from 51 service providers in two non-contiguous sub-cities. We used One-Way ANOVA, chi square test and Kruskal Wallis test to compare demographic characteristics and quality of life scores of study participants. Further, we used Cronbach’s coefficient alpha (α) to assess internal consistency reliability and Pea rson product-moment correlation (r) to assess concurrent validity. Finally, multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimation was used to assess measurement invariance of the quality of life scale. Findings suggest that the WHOQOL-HIV BREF exhibited acceptable psychometr ic properties. There was evidence for strong internal consistency reliability demonstrated by Cronbach’s α>0.80 and coefficie...
Source: Applied Research in Quality of Life - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research