Construcción y validación inicial de un cuestionario para medir calidad de vida en pacientes esquizofrénicos

Abstract

Background: The measurement of subjective quality of life in schizophrenic patients has become increasingly one of the critical tasks when assessing the effectiveness of psychiatric rehabilitation programs. Aims: To develop a specific questionnaire to evaluate subjective quality of life in schizophrenic patients and to asses its main psychometric properties. Patients and Method: The study was conducted in several stages. First, a list of the 65 most relevant quality of life-related topics was extracted from the relevant literature. The list was then modified according to the suggestions of 15 experts and to the results of the observation of 10 patients, who were followed up for a month. Next, a questionnaire was build using semantic differential items for each of the selected topics. Finally, the questionnaire was administered to 200 patients attending to public health services in Chile and its major psychometric properties were assessed. Results: An exploratory factor analysis conducted to evaluate the preliminary validity of the questionnaire revealed a 9 dimensions solution: adaptation to the environment, subjective well being, affective intercourse, self-efficacy, psychiatric attention, home and family, sentimental life, financial situation, and emancipation from home. The reliability, assessed by Cronbach 's alpha, was 0.89 for the entire questionnaire and varied from 0.51 and 0.83 for the factors. Conclusion: The questionnaire is appropriate to assess subjective quality of life schizophrenic patients. Normative scores and interpretation criteria are provided. © 2007 Sociedad de Neurología, Psiquiatría y Neurocirugía.