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An evaluation of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire using Rasch analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

The symptom burden of heart failure is significant and impacts upon health-related quality of life. The Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) is widely used in clinical practice to measure self-reported health-related quality of life, but the psychometric properties of the instrument are not fully elucidated. To address this gap, we investigated item and person fit, differential item functioning, item thresholds ordering, targeting and dimensionality of the MLHFQ.

Methods

Three approaches were used, exploratory factor analysis, Mokken analysis and Rasch analysis, on a convenience sample of 109 participants with a diagnosis of HF from the UK. Participants were typically male (67 %) with a mean age of 68 years (range 41–88).

Results

Findings from the exploratory factor analysis of the MLHFQ revealed three factors (physical, emotional and social) that explained 72 % of the total variance. Mokken analysis confirmed the MLHFQ total scale, and the three subscales, as valid ordinal scales: the total MLHFQ scale [overall Loevinger coefficient (H) = 0.61], physical scale (H = 0.75), emotional scale (H = 0.79) and social scale (H = 0.552). Rasch analysis confirmed the physical scale as a unidimensional scale, but this was not consistent for the total MLHFQ scale which showed poor fit to the Rasch model (χ 2 = 162), df = 42, p < 0.0001). Six items of the total scale were misfitting (7, 8, 10, 14–16) and removing them improved the fit of the total scale. The physical subscale showed fit to the Rasch model (χ 2 = 20.24, df = 16, p = 0.21), and there was evidence of unidimensionality (t tests = 0.09, lower bound 95 % CI 0.04). There was evidence of disordered thresholds for the MLHFQ total and physical scale, and targeting was poor for both the total scale and its subscales.

Conclusion

We confirmed the MLHFQ subscales to be valid ordinal scales supporting the use of sum scores to assess quality of life in people diagnosed with HF. Floor effects were evident indicating that the ability of the instrument to identify differences across populations with mild HF may be suboptimal. The psychometric properties of the MLHFQ total scale may be improved by excluding problematic items from the total scale. Further research is warranted to verify findings from this study.

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Abbreviations

DIF:

Differential item functioning

MLHFQ:

Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire

HRQoL:

Heart failure-specific measure of health-related quality of life

CHFQ:

Chronic Heart Failure Questionnaire

QLQ-SHF:

Questionnaire for severe heart failure

KCCQ:

Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire

LVD-36:

Left Ventricular Dysfunction Questionnaire 36

NYHA:

New York Heart Association

QoL:

Quality of life

IHD:

Ischaemic heart disease

IRT:

Item response theory

PSI:

Person separation index

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

SD:

Standard deviation

EFA:

Exploratory factor analysis

RMSEA:

Root mean square errors of approximation

MHM:

Mokken model of monotone homogeneity

CFI:

Comparative fit index

IRT:

Item response theory

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the study participants and thank the EuroQoL Steering Committee for giving access to the UK MLHF data set.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Theresa Munyombwe

  2. Department of Medical Psychology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

    Stefan Höfer

  3. Institute of Nursing Research, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, University of Ulster, Belfast, UK

    Donna Fitzsimons

  4. Cardiovascular Research Centre, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    David R. Thompson

  5. University of Birmingham Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences and City Hospital, Birmingham, UK

    Deidre Lane

  6. School of Nursing, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

    Karen Smith

  7. School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Sciences, University of Salford, Manchester, UK

    Felicity Astin

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  1. Theresa Munyombwe
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Correspondence to Felicity Astin.

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Munyombwe, T., Höfer, S., Fitzsimons, D. et al. An evaluation of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire using Rasch analysis. Qual Life Res 23, 1753–1765 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-013-0617-0

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