Poster Presentation
Thursday, July 12, 2007
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Thursday, July 12, 2007
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
Validation of a questionnaire to test quality of life in Taiwan community-dwelling elders
Hsing-Yi Yu, doctoral, student, RN, School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Department of Nursing, Jen-Teh Junior College of Medicine. Nursing and Management;, Miaoli city, Taiwan and Shu Yu, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
| Learning Objective #1: test the reliability and validity of WHOQOL-Taiwanese version (WHOQOL-T) in community elders. |
| Learning Objective #2: examine the quality of life and it's best predictors in Taiwan community dwelling elders |
Since health related quality of life (HQOL) in different life-span is a significant issue, empirically knowledge about the experience of HQOL in older population is still sparse. More attention for HQOL in community elders should be considered. The purpose of this study is to test the reliability and validity of WHOQOL-Taiwanese version (WHOQOL-T) in community elders. In additional to demographic factors, other predictors of quality of life which is changeable were also be examined. A total of 219 community elders (male 117 and female 102) selected from Taipei city in Taiwan by a random sampling method and interviewed face to face. The main findings included (1) As to the reliability and validity of WHOQOL-T, the internal consistency (Cronbach’s ) ranged from 0.68 to 0.81 for the four subjective QOL domains. The test-retest reliability (ICCs) ranged from 0.73 to 0.85. Interviewer reliability ranged from 0.75-0.96. As for the construct validity, after factor analysis, seven factors were extracted and account for 61.15% of the total variance. (2) The subjects’ rated their HQOL as moderateiMean± SD=3.50± 0.83j. Among the four subjective HQOL domains, the highest score domains were physical health domain, social relationships domain, and environment domain (the transformed score= 69), whereas the lowest score domain was psychological domain (the transformed score= 63). (3)The analysis of stepwise multiple regression indicated that 28.0% of the variance in the scores of WHOQOL-T was explained by subjective general health, sleep quality, economical status, and average pain intensity. Based on our findings, we suggest WHOQOL-T is a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate HQOL of community elders. The score of psychological domain is the lowest in Taiwan elders should be taken into account As to the predictors for quality of life, other factors may be explored and explained for higher variance.