Internal consistency and factor structure of 12-item general health questionnaire in visually impaired students

Abstract

Background: As there are no instruments to measure psychological wellness or distress in visually impaired students, we studied internal consistency and factor structure of GHQ-12 in visually impaired children. Materials and Methods: Internal consistency analysis (Cronbach′s alpha and item total correlation) and exploratory factor analysis (principal component analysis) were carried out to identify factor structure of 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-12). Results: All items of GHQ-12 were significantly associated with each other and the Cronbach′s alpha coefficient for the scale was 0.7. On analysis of principal component, three-factor solution was found that accounted for 47.92% of the total variance. The factors included, ′general well-being′, ′depression′ and ′cognitive′, with Cronbach′s alpha coefficients being 0.70, 0.59, and 0.34, respectively. Conclusion: Our study findings suggest GHQ-12 is a reliable with adequate internal consistency scale and multidimensional factor structure in visually impaired students.

Keywords

• Factor analysis
• GHQ-12
• principal component analysis
• visual impairment