Psychometric Properties of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale for Older Adults (WHO-QoL-Old) in a Mexican Population

Abstract

Background/Objective: The present study aimed to contribute to analyzing the psychometric properties of the WHO Quality of Life Scale for Older Adults (WHO-QoL-Old) in a sample of older adults in Michoacán, Mexico. Methods: 111 older adults from Michoacán, Mexico, participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the fit of various models. Data analysis was performed using R Studio, considering the ordinal nature of the items in the model estimation method. Internal consistency was evaluated using the alpha coefficient (α) and McDonald’s omega coefficient (ω). Results: The CFA indicated that the six-correlated-factor model proposed theoretically showed a very good fit (χ2: 397.11, p < 0.001; CFI: 0.958; SRMR: 0.079; RMSEA: 0.079). The factors within the model demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with an alpha coefficient ranging from 0.739 to 0.874 and an omega coefficient ranging from 0.748 to 0.882. Conclusions: It is concluded that the WHO-QoL-Old scale presents good psychometric properties for the Mexican older adult population.

Keywords

• quality of life
• older adults
• psychometrics
• confirmatory factor analysis