The Dutch version of the Nottingham Health Profile: investigations of psychometric aspects

Abstract

Data on the adaptation, reliability, and validity of the Dutch version of the Nottingham Health Profile are discussed. The linguistic adaptation of the English version into Dutch is described, followed by the field-testing procedure and the analyses of data from 276 selected subjects from an average general medical group practice in a village nearby Rotterdam. The internal consistency, Cronbach alphas, of the subscales varied from .70 to .85. Test-retest measures for 51 patients with cardiac problems gave Spearman correlations from .69 to .92, while the interscale relationships yielded six relatively independent areas of discomfort and stress. By means of logistic regression analysis on differences between old versus young, male versus female, and healthy versus ill individuals, discriminant validity was satisfactory. Findings suggest that the psychometric aspects of the Dutch version, also seen from a cross-cultural point of view, are sufficient. Nevertheless, further research on reliability and validity of the Dutch version is required to establish its usefulness with different patient groups.