Abstract

This study aims to examine psychometric properties of Moore version of World Health Organization's Quality of Life assessment short instrument in HIV patients (WHOQOL HIV-BREF). A study was conducted on 100 persons living with human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's α. For the convergent validity of the Moore version WHOQOL-HIV BREF, the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) was used as a comparison instrument and cross-product correlations were calculated. The test-retest reliability was assessed using the interclass correlation coefficient. The study showed high internal consistency with Cronbach's α at 0.92 for the whole instrument. According to domains, Cronbach's α found ranged from 0.58 to 0.87, showing acceptable internal consistency for all domains. Domains scores for test-retest reliability, using interclass correlation gave coefficients ranged from 0.40 (spiritual domain) to 0.99 (level of independence domain) with p < 0.001 for all domains except for spirituality domain (p < 0.05). The study showed significant correlation between general facets and quality of life score (p < 0.001), as wheel as WHOQOL HIV-BREF and satisfaction with life scale (p < 0.01) except for spirituality domain. The instrument demonstrated good discriminative properties according to clinical stages of HIV infection with higher scores for asymptomatic HIV patients and lower scores at AIDS stage (p<0.001), except for spirituality domain (p > 0.05). As a demonstrated cross-cultural instrument, the WHOQOL HIV-BREF in its Moore version can be used for quality of life assessment in a routine way or longitudinal studies in Burkina Faso with persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Key words: Quality of life, WHOQOL HIV-BREF, Burkina Faso, moore, psychometrics.