Factor Structure of the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire (SA-45)

Abstract

We describe the internal structure of the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire (SA-45; Davison et al., 1997) in a sample of non-clinical Spanish subjects. The scale was developed for treatment outcome assessment in psychiatric settings; however, many studies have examined its psychometric properties in non-clinical populations. The internal structure of these studies usually replicates the dimensionality proposed in the original study closely. In this work, the scale was administered to a sample of 823 participants. In order to analyse the dimensionality of the instrument in a non-clinical population, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using polychoric correlations were carried out. The results obtained, are similar to those obtained for the original model and replicated in later studies, but there are important nuances that should be taken into account in defining a measurement model for the sample used. These data confirm the need for further research in a non-clinical population.