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Comparative Study
. 2019 Dec 4;55(12):772.
doi: 10.3390/medicina55120772.

Psychometric Properties of the World Health Organization's Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) Questionnaire in Medical Students

Irena Ilić  1 , Sandra Šipetić  2 , Jovan Grujičić  3 , Ivana Živanović Mačužić  4 , Sanja Kocić  5 , Milena Ilić  6
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Psychometric Properties of the World Health Organization's Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) Questionnaire in Medical Students

Irena Ilić et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Studies on the effects of studying on a medical student's quality of life are sparse. The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire is a widely used scale that enables the assessment and international comparisons of the quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire among Serbian medical students. Material and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study that involved 760 medical students at a state medical faculty at the University of Kragujevac, Serbia. The reliability of the WHOQOL-BREF was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and test-retest analysis, and the validity was examined using principal component analysis, with Promax rotation method. Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole WHOQOL-BREF scale was 0.896. Internal reliability for all domains was above 0.70, except for the domain "Social Relationships" (0.533). The test-retest reliability for all domains was significant at p 0.01 level, showing good stability of the scale. Principal component analysis with Promax rotation method indicated four main components that explained 49.5% of variance. Conclusion: The Serbian version of the WHOQOL-BREF scale showed satisfactory psychometric properties that facilitate estimation of the quality of life of medical students.

Keywords: WHOQOL-BREF; medical students; quality of life; reliability; validity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this work.

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