METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to assess the effect of health-related and psychosocial correlates on HRQOL of IDDM patients in Penang, Malaysia. The participants were recruited from five governmental diabetic clinics. Patients with insulin use only, IDDM diagnosed at least 1 year earlier, were identified from clinical registers. The sample was then age stratified for 20-64 years, and severe complications (e.g., end-stage renal failure, hemodialysis, and liver cirrhosis) were excluded; a total of 1003 participants were enrolled in the study. Multivariate regression analysis was used to predict the response.
RESULTS: A total of 853 (100%) participants were enrolled and completed the study. Women exhibited significantly higher/better mental health (p < 0.013) and health perception scores (p < 0.001) despite high prevalence of impaired role (49.2%), social (24.2%), and physical (40.5%) functionings as compared to men. Women with longer diabetes exposure and uncontrolled glycemic levels (HbA1c) have poorer HRQOL. Availability of social support showed no significant association with either HRQOL or diabetes distress levels. Diabetes distress levels remained not associated with social support. Women also showed significantly higher association with health perception (15% versus 13% men, p < 0.001) and mental health (13% versus 11% men, p < 0.001) in diabetes-specific psychosocial factors. Thus, among women alone, diabetes-related specific and psychosocial factors explained 15% and 13% of variations in HRQOL extents, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Women exhibit extensive and significant patterns with health-related factors and diabetes-specific psychosocial factors (self-efficacy, social support, and DLC) to improve HRQOL. Also, women have significantly high reported distress levels and low social functioning compared to men.
Methods: This study took place at the National Heart Institute and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between March 2013 and March 2014. A self-administered 75-item HFQOL questionnaire was designed and administrated to 164 multi-ethnic Malaysian HF patients. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to assess the instrument's construct validity. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to determine internal consistency.
Results: A total of 33 out of 75 items were retained in the final tool. The HFQOL questionnaire had three common factors-psychological, physical-social and spiritual wellbeing-resulting in a cumulative percentage of total variance of 44.3%. The factor loading ranges were 0.450-0.718 for psychological wellbeing (12 items), 0.394-0.740 for physical-social wellbeing (14 items) and 0.449-0.727 for spiritual wellbeing (seven items). The overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.82, with coefficients of 0.86, 0.88 and 0.79 for the psychological, physical-social and spiritual wellbeing subdomains, respectively.
Conclusion: The HFQOL questionnaire was found to be a valid and reliable measure of QOL among Malaysian HF patients from various ethnic groups. Such tools may facilitate cardiac care management planning among multi-ethnic patients with HF.
METHOD: Guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptations of assessment measures were implemented. A sample of 303 young military recruits participated in the study. Factor structure, reliability, and validity of scores on the PCS-MY were examined. Convergent validity was investigated with the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, Short-form 12 version 2, and Ryff's Psychological Well-being Scale.
RESULTS: Most participants were men, ranging in age from 19 to 26. The reliability of the PCS-MY scores was adequate (α = 0.90; mean inter-item correlation = 0.43). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a modified version of the PCS-MY provided best fit estimates to the sample data. The PCS-MY total score was negatively correlated with mental well-being and positively correlated with negative affect (all ps < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: The PCS-MY was demonstrated to have adequate reliability and validity estimates in the study sample.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: English speaking patients older than 18 years of age with a defi nite diagnosis of MS were included. The self-administered survey material included the adapted HRQoL questionnaire, a validated generic HRQoL questionnaire: the short-form 36 (SF-36), as well as a checklist of 14 symptoms. We assessed the internal and external validity of the adapted MusiQoL.
RESULTS: A total of 81 patients with MS were included in the study. The questionnaire was generally well accepted. In the samples from Malaysia and Singapore, all scales exhibited good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.70). Correlation to SF-36 was generally good, demonstrating high construct validity (P <0.001) in some aspects of the MusiQoL.
CONCLUSION: The Asian adaptation of the English version of the MusiQoL in evaluating HRQoL seems to be a valid, reliable tool with adequate patient acceptability and internal consistency.