Suitability of the WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD for Spanish older adults

Background: People are living longer and healthier than at any other time point in history. Therefore, in the last decade, international interest has focussed on the study of quality of life (QoL) in older people. Our aim was to study the psychometric properties of the generic QoL measure WHOQOL-BREF (WHOQOL, World Health Organization Quality of Life) and specific older adult module WHOQOL-OLD in a sample of 286 Spanish elderly. Methods: Participants were 60 years and older from community centres, primary care centres, family associations and nursing homes. The following information was collected: demographics, self-perception of health, depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS-30), functional status (SF-12) and QoL (WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD). Analysis was performed using classic psychometric techniques with SPSS v15.0. Results: We found no ceiling and floor effects, and missing data was low. The internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alpha was 0.90 for the WHOQOL-BREF total scale and 0.80 for the WHOQOL-OLD. A priori expected associations were found between WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD with the SF-12 and the GDS-30, indicating good construct validity. WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD domain scores differentiated between participants with lower and higher level of education, and between groups of older people (healthy vs. unhealthy; non-depressed vs. depressed; non-carers vs. carers and non-residents vs. residents). Conclusions: The WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD questionnaires demonstrate acceptable psychometric performance in a convenience sample of Spanish older people. They are valuable measures of QoL for use with older people.