Abstract
Purpose of the study: The aim of the current study is to validate an instrument consisting of five items and first used in the Nord-Trondelag Health Survey (HUNT-5), as a measure of health related quality of life (QOL) in a population of elderly women living at home. Design and methods: A random sample of 307 women aged 75 years and over (mean 80.8 years, response rate 74.5%) and living at home were interviewed using the HUNT-5 instrument, the 20-question version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-20) and the respondents’ records of their health status and functional ability. Results: No significant relationships were found between age and the sumscores of GHQ-20 and HUNT-5. Factor analysis indicated that HUNT-5 is primarily unidimensional. The Cronbach α for HUNT-5 was 0.79 and that for GHQ-20 was 0.87. The correlation between the HUNT-5 and the GHQ-20 sumscores was 0.75 (p < 0.001). There were significant correlations between some of the health and function items and the two QOL instruments (ranging from 0.14 to 0.68). Implications: This evaluation supports the psychometric validity of HUNT-5 for elderly women living at home. It is important to take into consideration the women’s own experience of their health and functional ability in planning therapy and in obtaining the best possible QOL for them.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
D.G. Altman (1990) Practical Statistics for Medical Research Chapman & Hall London
A.T. Beekman B.W. Penninx D.J. Deeg E. Beurs Particlede S.W. Geerling W. Van Tilburg Particlevan (2002) ArticleTitleThe impact of depression on the well-being, disability and use of services in older adults: a longitudinal perspective Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 105 20–27 Occurrence Handle10.1034/j.1600-0447.2002.10078.x
P.M. Bentler K.H. Yuan (1996) ArticleTitleTest of linear trend in eigenvalues of a covariance matrix with application to data analysis British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology 49 299–312
A. Bergland A.M. Pettersen K. Laake (2000) ArticleTitleFunctional status among elderly Norwegian fallers living at home Physiotherapy Research International 5 33–45 Occurrence Handle10.1002/pri.182
A. Bergland G.-B. Jarnlo K. Laake (2003) ArticleTitlePredictors of falls in the elderly by location Aging Clinical and Experimental Research 15 43–50
E. Borowiak T. Kostka (2004) ArticleTitlePredictors of quality of life in older people living at home and in institutions Aging-Clinical & Experimental Research 16 212–220
A. Braekhus K. Laake K. Engedal (1992) ArticleTitleThe Mini-Mental State Examination: identifying the most efficient variables for detecting cognitive impairment in the elderly Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 40 1139–1145
A. Campbell P.E. Converse W.L. Rodgers (1976) The Quality of American Life: Perceptions, Evaluations, and Satisfactions Sage New York
Campbell, A.: 1981, The Sense of Well-Being in America (McGraw-Hill Book Company)
A. Campbell J. Walker G. Farrell (2003) ArticleTitleConfirmatory factor analysis of the GHQ-12: can I see that again? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 37 475–483 Occurrence Handle10.1046/j.1440-1614.2003.01208.x
O. Chassany P. Marquis B. Scherrer N.W. Read T. Finger J.F. Bergmann B. Fraitag J. Geneve C. Caulin (1999) ArticleTitleValidation of a specific quality of life questionnaire for functional digestive disorders Gut 44 527–533 Occurrence Handle10.1136/gut.44.4.527
J. Cohen (1988) Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences EditionNumber2 Lawrence Erlbaum New Jersey
H.H. Colwell S.D. Mathias D.J. Pasta J.M. Henning J.F. Steege (1998) ArticleTitleA health-related quality-of-life instrument for symptomatic patients with endometriosis: A validation study American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecological Results 179 47–55 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0002-9378(98)70250-9
L. De Leo R.F. Diekstra J. Lonnqvist M. Trabucchi M.H. Cleiren G.B. Frisoni M. Dello Buono A. Haltunen M. Zucchetto R. Rozzini F. Grigoletto J. Sampaio-Faria (1998) ArticleTitleLEIPAD: an internationally applicable instrument to assess quality of life in the elderly Behavioral Medicine 24 17–27 Occurrence Handle10.1080/08964289809596377
E. Diener S. Oishi R.E. Lucas (2003) ArticleTitlePersonality, culture, and subjective well-being: emotional and cognitive evaluations of life Annual of Review Psychology 54 403–425 Occurrence Handle10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145056
E. Diener E.M. Suh (1998) ArticleTitleSubjective well-being and age: an international analysis Annual Review of Gerontological Geriatrie 17 304–324
E. Diener E.M. Suh R.E. Lucas H.E. Smith (1999) ArticleTitleSubjective well-being: three decades of progress Psychological Bulletin 125 276–302 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276
W.J. Dixon (1992) BMDP Statistical Software University of California Press. Berkeley
G.G. Fillenbaum (1988) Multidimensional Functional Assessment of Older Adults Erlbaum Associates Publisher Lawrence, Hove and London
A. Fletcher S. Gore D. Jones R. Fitzpatrick D. Spiegelhalter D. Cox (1992) ArticleTitleQuality of life measures in health care II. Design, analysis, and interpretation British Medical Journal 305 1145–1148
D.J. Foley A.A. Monjan S.L. Brown E.M. Simonsick R.B. Wallace D.G. Blazer (1995) ArticleTitleSleep complaints among elderly persons: an epidemiologic study of three communities Sleep 18 425–432
M.J. Fuhrer (2000) ArticleTitleSubjectifying quality of life as a medical rehabilitation outcome Disability and Rehabilitation 22 481–487 Occurrence Handle10.1080/096382800413961
T.M. Gill A.R. Feinstein (1994) ArticleTitleA critical appraisal of the quality of quality-of-life measurements The Journal of the American Medical Association 272 619–626 Occurrence Handle10.1001/jama.272.8.619
D. Goldberg (1985) ArticleTitleIdentifying psychiatric illness among general medical patients British Medical Journal 291 161–162 Occurrence Handle10.1136/bmj.291.6489.161
D.P. Goldberg (1972) The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire Oxford University Press Mandsley Monogram (21, London)
R.D Hays H Hahn G Marshall (2002) ArticleTitleUse of the SF-36 and other health-related quality of life measures to assess persons with disabilities’ Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 83 IssueID12 Suppl 2 S4–S9 Occurrence Handle10.1053/apmr.2002.36837
D. Hofoss E. Nord (1997) ArticleTitleNorwegian physicians – affluent and reputed, but not particularly happy Tidsskrift for Den Norske Laegeforening 1997 117 3476–3481
Holmen, J., K. Midthjell, K. Bjartveit, P.F. Hjort, P.G. Lund-Larsen, T. Moum, S. Naess and H.T. Waaler: 1990, 'The Nord-Trondelag Health Survey 1984–1986: Purpose, Background and Methods’, Participation, Non-participation and Frequency Distributions, Report, No 4–90 (National Institute of Public Health, Verdal, Norway)
K. Holmen K. Ericsson B. Winblad (1999) ArticleTitleQuality of life among the elderly. State of mood and loneliness in two selected groups Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 13 91–95 Occurrence Handle10.1080/02839319950162624
D. Jackowski G. Guyatt (2003) ArticleTitleA guide to health measurement Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research 413 80–89
Juniper, E.F., G.H. Guyatt and R. Jaeschke: 1996, 'How to develop and validate a new health-related quality of life instrument’, in B. Spiker (ed.), I: Quality of Life and Pharmacoeconomics in Clinical Trials, 2nd Edition, Lippincott-Raven Publisher, Philadelphia
R.A. Kane (2003) ArticleTitleDefinition, measurement, and correlates of quality of life in nursing homes: toward a reasonable practice, research, and policy agenda The Gerontologist 43 28–36
U. Kunzmann T.D. Little J. Smith (2000) ArticleTitleIs age-related stability of subjective well-being a paradox? Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the Berlin Aging Study Psychology and Aging 15 511–526 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0882-7974.15.3.511
K.S. Law C.S. Wong L.J. Song (2004) ArticleTitleThe construct and criterion validity of emotional intelligence and its potential utility for management studies Journal of Applied Psychology 89 483–496 Occurrence Handle10.1037/0021-9010.89.3.483
U.F. Malt T.-E. Mongstad I.B. Refnin (1989) ArticleTitleGoldberg’s general health questionnaire (In Norwegian) Tidsskrift for Den norske laegeforening 109 1391–1394
U.F. Malt (1989) ArticleTitleThe validity of the general health questionnaire in a sample of accidentally injured adults Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 1985 IssueIDSuppl Muthén 103–112
A. Mastekaasa T. Moum (1984) ArticleTitleThe perceived quality of life in Norway: regional variations and contextual effects Social Indicator Research 14 385–419 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00300450
McCall, R.B.: 2000, Fundamental Statistics for Behavioral Sciences. Wads Worth
C.L. Mullins D. Dugan (1990) ArticleTitleThe influence of depression, and family and friendship relations, on residents’ loneliness in congregate housing Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 30 377–384
C.M. Musil S.L. Jones C.D. Warner (1998) ArticleTitleStructural equation modeling and its relationship to multiple regression and factor analysis Research in Nursing & Health 21 271–281 Occurrence Handle10.1002/(SICI)1098-240X(199806)21:3<271::AID-NUR10>3.0.CO;2-G
B.O. Muthén (1988) Analyses of Linear Structural Equations using a Comprehensive Measurement Mode. User’s Guide Scientific Software Mooresville
L. Muthén B. Muthén (1998) Mplus. The Comprehensive Modeling Program for Applied Research. User’s Guide Muthén and Muthén Los Angeles
M.J. Naughton I.K. Wiklund (1996) Dimension-specific instruments that may be used across cultures Spilker Bert (Eds) Quality of Life and Pharmacoeconomics in Clinical Trials Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins Philadelphia
J.C. Nunnally I.H. Bernstein (1994) Psychometric Theory EditionNumber3rd McGraw Hill New York
C.N. Nydegger (1986) Measuring morale and life satisfaction C.L. Fry J. Keith (Eds) New Methods for Old-AgeResearch: Strategies for Studying Diversity South Hadley, Mass. Bergin & Garvey 213–230
Pallant, J.: 2004, SPSS Survival Manual. Open University Press
L. Portney M. Watkins (1999) Foundations of Clinical Research: Applications to practice Appleton and Lange Connecticut
W.J. Rejeski S.L. Mihalko (2001) ArticleTitlePhysical activity and quality of life in older adults Journals of Gerontology Series A – Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences 56 23–35
A. Stathi K.R. Fox J. McKenna (2002) ArticleTitlePhysical activity and dimensions of subjective well-being in older adults Journal of Aging and Physical Activity 10 76–92
S. Steine E. Laerum J. Eritsland H. Arnesen (1996) ArticleTitlePredictors of enhanced well-being after coronary artery bypass surgery Journal of Internal Medicine 239 69–73 Occurrence Handle10.1046/j.1365-2796.1996.425768000.x
N. Stevens (1997) ArticleTitleFriendship as a key to well-being: a course for women over 55 years old Tijdschr Gerontol Geriatr 28 18–26
M.D. Sullivan G.I. Kempen E. Sonderen ParticleVan J. Ormel (2000) ArticleTitleModels of health-related quality of life in a population of community-dwelling Dutch elderly Quality of Life Research 9 801–810 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1008987709788
B.G. Tabachnick L.S. Fidell (2001) Using Multivariate Statistics Allyn and Bacon Boston, MA
M. Thorslund T. Norström (1993) ArticleTitleThe relationship between different measures of health in an elderly population The Journal of Applied Gerontology 12 61–70
M. Winston J. Smith (2000) ArticleTitleA trans-cultural comparison of four psychiatric case-finding instruments in a Welsh community Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology 1988 569–575 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s001270050281
The WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology: 2000, WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, Norway 2000 (ATC-index with DDs, Oslo, Norway)
World Health Organisation (WHO): 2001, International Classification of Functioning (ICF), Disability and Health (World Health Organisation, Geneva)
J.E. Young (1982) Loneliness, depression and cognitive therapy: theory and application L.A. Pepleu D. Perlman (Eds) Loneliness: A Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research and Therapy John Wiley & Sons New York 379–406
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bergland, A., Wyller, T.B. Construct and Criterion Validity of a Norwegian Instrument for Health Related Quality of Life Among Elderly Women Living at Home. Soc Indic Res 77, 479–497 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-4930-z
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-4930-z