Psychometric testing of the Chinese version of the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey among people living with HIV/AIDS in China

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Chinese (Mandarin) version of the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS-CM) among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Mainland China. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 200 Chinese PLWHA. They completed the MOS-SSS-CM along with the Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory Revised (BDI-II) scale, the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) scale. Results Internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) was 0.97 for the overall MOS-SSS-CM and 0.82–0.91 for the five sub-scales originally proposed. However, 11 of the 19 items demonstrated unsatisfactory item discriminant validity. An exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution with tangible and social-emotional dimensions, which demonstrated satisfactory reliability and better discrimination between different subscales than did the original five-factor model. The concurrent validity of the two-factor scale was further confirmed by its significant negative correlations with the BDI-II (r = −0.41, p < 0.01); the SAS (r = −0.27, p < 0.01); and the PSS-10 (r = −0.30, p < 0.01), and significant positive correlation with the WHOQOL-BREF scale (r = 0.61, p < 0.01). Conclusion We found a two-factor solution for the MOS-SSS-CM, which demonstrated good reliability and validity when applied to Chinese PLWHA. This was consistent with results from a study of Taiwanese caregivers. Further validation in other populations and disease states is warranted.

Unable to be a Human Being in Front of Other People: A Qualitative Study of Self-Isolation Among People Living with HIV/AIDS in China

“…For example, significant differences have been reported between the support systems of HIV-positive individuals in the United States as compared to China (Yu, Yang, Shiu, Simoni, Xiao, Chen, et al, 2015; Li et al, 2006; Li, Liang, Ding, & Ji, 2011). Broadly speaking, Chinese PLWHA rely more heavily on family to cope with emotional stress.…”

A comparison of psychometric properties of two common measures of caregiving burden: the family burden interview schedule (FBIS-24) and the Zarit caregiver burden interview (ZBI-22)

“…Among the 327 respondents, 292 completed all questionnaires with no missing data on all study measures, and 295 completed both the FBIS-24 and ZBI-22 with no missing data. The sample size satisfies the requirement of at least 5 participants for each item of the scale to conduct a psychometric testing [22].…”

Psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-BREF among next of kin to older persons in nursing homes

“…This instrument has been psychometrically tested on adult patients with a broad range of diseases and health conditions, from a variety of inpatient and outpatient somatic and psychiatric healthcare facilities, and on healthy people from the general population [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Examples of studies where the WHOQOL-BREF has been used are on wounded, injured and ill patients from the military [24], persons with Parkinson disease [21], and those with HIV or AIDS [26]. We have found only few published studies in the literature using WHOQOL-BREF to measure the QOL of next of kin.…”