Serbian version of the Women's Health Questionnaire: psychometric properties

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to translate the Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ) into the Serbian language and assess its validity and reliability in a population of Serbian menopausal women.

Methods: The study included peri- and postmenopausal women from two Community Health Centers in Belgrade. Women filled out the WHQ, the Short Form-36 questionnaire (SF-36) and Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI). The WHQ was translated according to recommended methodology for cultural adaptation of questionnaires and its psychometric characteristics (internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, factor analysis, sensitivity, discriminant, construct and criterion validity) were tested.

Results: In the Serbian population, the mean values of the WHQ domains were mostly comparable with reference Mediterranean countries. Whole-scale Cronbach's α was 0.838. Moreover, five WHQ domains had a value of Cronbach's α above the acceptable limit. There were no significant differences in WHQ scores between our two investigators. On exploratory factor analysis, we obtained ten factors (two items formed a new factor - 'Menstrual pathology'). Almost all SF-36 domains were significantly associated with WHQ domains, while the BDI was associated with domains: depressive mood, anxiety and sleep problems. Based on ROC analysis, WHQ is slightly more reliable for perimenopausal than postmenopausal Serbian women.

Conclusion: The Serbian version of the WHQ showed very good reliability and validity in assessment of quality of life among menopausal women. The WHQ is applicable for both peri- and postmenopausal women.

Keywords: MENOPAUSE; SCALE VALIDATION; SERBIA; WOMEN’S HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE.