Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2020 , Vol 23, Issue 2
VALIDATION OF THE TURKISH VERSION OF THE WHOQOL-AGE AND A PROPOSED ALTERNATIVE SCALE STRUCTURE
Cemil ÖZCAN1, Erhan ESER1
1Manisa Celal Bayar University, School of Medicine, Dept. Public Health, Manisa, TURKEY DOI : 10.31086/tjgeri.2020.150 Purpose: The WHOQOL-AGE is a combination of the EUROHIS-QOL.8 and the short version of the WHOQOL-OLD. The aim of the present study is to explore the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the WHOQOL-AGE in terms of its validity and reliability.

Methods: Internal consistency, item?total correlations, and item success were analyzed taking the original structure into account. The validity tests consisted of construct validity and criterion validity analyses. The original scale structure was compared with a proposed new scale structure, comprised of two domains and based on the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, in terms of goodness-of-fit measures.

Results: The mean age of the sample population (n = 550) was 73.09 ± 6.77, and 58.9% were female. Skewness and kurtosis were both within accepted limits (<1.0) and the floor and ceiling percentages also showed good measuring capacity (<10%). The Cronbach alpha value was 0.90 for domain 1 and 0.86 for domain 2. The goodness-of-fit analysis results for the original scale structure and the new scale structure, respectively, were comparative fit index = 0.89 and 0.83, Tucker Levis index = 0.87 and 0.81, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.12 and 0.073.

Conclusion: The WHOQOL-AGE.TR is moderately compatible with the original scale structure. The EFA revealed a new scale structure: the domain 1 ("satisfaction with physical and mental health and well-being" domain) includes items 1?5, 9 and 10, and the domain 2 ("satisfaction with economic and social well-being"domain) includes items 6?8 and 11?13. Keywords : Quality of life; Aged; Psychometrics