Quality of life in the elderly: Psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-OLD module in Mexico

Abstract

The purpose was to examine and compare the psychometric properties of a Mexican Spanish version of the WHOQOL-OLD module. The instrument was applied to 285 individuals aged over 60 years (mean = 69.26, SD = 6.52). All participants completed a demographic data sheet, the WHOQOL-OLD, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS); 182 of the 285 participants also completed a quality of life questionnaire for diabetic patients (DQOL). Acceptable levels of reliability were found, with Cronbach’s alpha values between 0.70 and 0.90 for overall quality of life and all domains except for autonomy, where the alpha value was low. The exploratory factor anal ysis carried out to examine the construct validity of the instrument yielded six domains: sensory abilities, autonomy, past/present/future activities, social participation, death and dying, and intimacy (explained variance of 62.95%). The mean overall quality of life score was 94.86 (SD = 13.68, range 50 to 120). The WHOQOL-OLD module showed criterion validity and concurrent validity with respect to the BDI (r = -0.516, p = 0.034), the GDS (r = -0.336, p = 0.002), and the DQOL (n = 182, r = 0.159, p = 0.032). Discriminant validity was also confirmed with respect to self-perceived health (t = 2.701, d.f. = 225, p = 0.007) and education (F (3, 280) = 9.015, p < 0.001), for both overall quality of life and some of its dimensions, but this was not the case with respect to gender (t = 1.292, d.f. = 283, p > 0.05). We conclude that the Mexican Spanish version of the WHOQOL-OLD module has adequate psychometric properties.