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Measurement invariance of the WHOQOL-AGE questionnaire across three European countries

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Abstract

Purpose

Developing valid and reliable instruments that can be used across countries is necessary. The present study aimed to test the comparability of quality of life scores across three European countries (Finland, Poland, and Spain).

Method

Data from 9987 participants interviewed between 2011 and 2012 were employed, using nationally representative samples from the Collaborative Research on Ageing in Europe project. The WHOQOL-AGE questionnaire is a 13-item test and was employed to assess the quality of life in the three considered countries. First of all, two models (a bifactor model and a two-correlated factor model) were proposed and tested in each country by means of confirmatory factor models. Second, measurement invariance across the three countries was tested using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis for that model which showed the best fit. Finally, differences in latent mean scores across countries were analyzed.

Results

The results indicated that the bifactor model showed more satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices than the two-correlated factor model and that the WHOQOL-AGE questionnaire is a partially scalar invariant instrument (only two items do not meet scalar invariance). Quality of life scores were higher in Finland (considered as the reference category: mean = 0, SD = 1) than in Spain (mean = − 0.547, SD = 1.22) and Poland (mean = − 0.927, SD = 1.26).

Conclusions

Respondents from Finland, Poland, and Spain attribute the same meaning to the latent construct studied, and differences across countries can be due to actual differences in quality of life. According to the results, the comparability across the different considered samples is supported and the WHOQOL-AGE showed an adequate validity in terms of cross-country validation. Caution should be exercised with the two items which did not meet scalar invariance, as potential indicator of differential item functioning.

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Acknowledgements

The present research has been funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 223071 (COURAGE in Europe), by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FIS research Grant Numbers PS09/00295 and PS09/01845, by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation’s ACI-Promociona (ACI2009-1010), and the Mental Health and Disability Instrument Library Platform (CIBERSAM). The study was also supported by the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III. D.S. is grateful to the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid for the doctoral fellowship (Reference No. FPI-UAM2015). F.J.A. is grateful to the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Grant PSI2013-44300-P). All authors gratefully acknowledge the input of Prof. Mick Power during the process of selecting the WHOQOL-AGE items.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    David Santos & Francisco J. Abad

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain

    Marta Miret, José Luis Ayuso-Mateos & Francisco Félix Caballero

  3. CIBER of Mental Health, Madrid, Spain

    Marta Miret, Beatriz Olaya, Josep Maria Haro, José Luis Ayuso-Mateos & Francisco Félix Caballero

  4. Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IIS-Princesa), Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Madrid, Spain

    Marta Miret, José Luis Ayuso-Mateos & Francisco Félix Caballero

  5. Information, Evidence and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

    Somnath Chatterji

  6. Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Beatriz Olaya & Josep Maria Haro

  7. Department of Medical Sociology, Chair of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland

    Katarzyna Zawisza

  8. National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Seppo Koskinen

  9. Fondazione IRCCS, Neurological Institute Carlo Besta, Milano, Italy

    Matilde Leonardi

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  1. David Santos
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  2. Francisco J. Abad
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  3. Marta Miret
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  10. José Luis Ayuso-Mateos
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  11. Francisco Félix Caballero
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Correspondence to Francisco Félix Caballero.

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Santos, D., Abad, F.J., Miret, M. et al. Measurement invariance of the WHOQOL-AGE questionnaire across three European countries. Qual Life Res 27, 1015–1025 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-017-1737-8

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