Reliability and Validity Testing of the Short-Form Health Survey in a Sample of Community-Dwelling African American Older Adults

Abstract

The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12; Ware, Kosinski, & Keller, 1996) is a widely used screening device for measuring physical and mental health to assess quality of life. However, limited psychometric data exist for older adults, especially minority aging samples. Findings from Resnick and Nahm (2001) suggest revising traditional SF-12 scoring for use in older adults because of different factor loadings for two questions. This study sought to examine the reliability and validity of a verbally administered SF-12 in a community-dwelling sample of African Americans using the Detroit City-Wide Needs Assessment Database (N = 985). Reliability analysis resulted in an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.77. Factor analysis with principal components extraction and varimax rotation yielded two factors. Consistent with Resnick and Nahm (2001), question 10 loaded on the physical health factor and question 12 on both the physical and the mental health factors. The overall SF-12 score was significantly related to use of home health services, visits to a physician, number of prescription drugs, as well as number of chronic diseases. The SF-12 appears to be a valid and reliable measure used as a screening device for use with African American elders overall. However, for optimal measurement, modifications to traditional scoring methods for the SF-12 should be considered.

Assessment of psychometric properties of the Korean SF-12 v2 in the general population

“…Psychometric properties of the SF-12 have been demonstrated in the general population of various countries, including USA [4, 22], Israel [5], Sweden [7], Greek [8], Hong Kong [19], and so on. Psychometric properties of the SF-12 v2 in the Americans and Chinese adolescents have been presented [6, 23].…”

“…Cheak-Zamora et al showed high test–retest reliability of PCS (ICC = .78) and moderate reliability of MCS (ICC = .60) [6]. Factor analysis yielded two factors and hypothesized item included the same factor in some of the countries [4, 8, 17]. However, the study performed in Israel revealed three factors and physical role loaded as a separate factor [5], and the results of the study by Jakobsson et al failed to support a two-dimensional item structure among the elderly population [6].…”

“…Because the SF-12 v2 is brief and measures various aspects of health status, it has become the instrument of choice in population health surveys and in clinical studies that combine it with disease-specific instruments [2, 3]. Several studies have reported the validity and reliability of the SF-12 as a measure of HRQoL in a range of medical conditions, as well as in the general population [4–8]. Although the psychometric properties of the Korean SF-36 v2 have been evaluated in the general population [9, 10], a similar evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Korean SF-12 v2 is yet to be performed.…”

Migration and health at older age in rural Malawi

“…The scores range from 0–100, with higher scores representing better overall health status (Peltzer & Pengpid, 2012). The SF-12 has been found to be a valid and reliable measure for overall physical and mental health status, including for older adults (Cernin, Cresci, Jankowski, & Lichtenberg, 2010; Pettit et al, 2001), and has been validated in developing settings similar to Malawi (Gandek et al, 1998; Obtel et al, 2013; Payne et al, 2013; Ware et al, 1996). Another health measure of interest is HIV status.…”

Physical Activity and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Low-Income Adults in Metropolitan Kuala Lumpur

“…[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] The SF-12v2 was used because it was less time consuming to fill questionnaire and has comparable accuracy to the longer SF-36. 31 The scores range from 0 to 100: scores of 100 signify optimal health, while scores that are more or less than 50 are more or less healthy than the American population mean.…”