Evaluation of reliability and validity of SF-36 Health Survey in old people in community

Abstract

Objectives To evaluate the reliability and validity of SF-36 in old people in community. Methods 378 old people in community were investigated by SF-36 by face-to-face interview, and the score of items was analyzed.Reliability and validity of SF-36 were evaluated by item-internal consistency,item discriminant vadility,Cronbach's alpha coefficient, et al. Results The clustering and ordering of the item means of SF-36 were the same as that hypothesized, except for items PF2,PF10,RP3,GH4. The correlation between an item and its hypothesized scale was 0.4 or above for all items. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient were above the standard of 0.7 for all except SF scale. Conclusions SF-36 Health Survey Questionnaire is available for the elderly people. The present evaluation proposes some minor word and item changes which is more suitable for old people.