The EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index: psychometric results of a cross-cultural field study

Background: Survey research including multiple health indicatorsrequires brief indices for use in cross-cultural studies, whichhave, however, rarely been tested in terms of their psychometricquality. Recently, the EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index was developedas an adaptation of the WHOQOL-100 and the WHOQOL-BREF. Theaim of the current study was to test the psychometric propertiesof the EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index. Methods: In a survey on 4849European adults, the EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index was assessed across10 countries, with equal samples adjusted for selected sociodemographicdata. Participants were also investigated with a chronic conditionchecklist, measures on general health perception, mental health,health-care utilization and social support. Results: Findingsindicated good internal consistencies across a range of countries,showing acceptable convergent validity with physical and mentalhealth measures, and the measure discriminates well betweenindividuals that report having a longstanding condition andhealthy individuals across all countries. Differential itemfunctioning was less frequently observed in those countriesthat were geographically and culturally closer to the UK, butacceptable across all countries. A universal one-factor structurewith a good fit in structural equation modelling analyses (SEM)was identified with, however, limitations in model fit for specificcountires. Conclusions: The short EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index showedgood cross-cultural field study performance and a satisfactoryconvergent and discriminant validity, and can therefore be recommendedfor use in public health research. In future studies the measureshould also be tested in multinational clinical studies, particularlyin order to test its sensitivity.