General health questionnaire-28: Psychometric evaluation of the Slovak version

Abstract

The EUropean Research on Incapacitating Diseases and Social Support (EURIDISS) is an international longitudinal study focused on patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). It elaborates on the impact of the chronic disease on patients' daily lives. Rheumatoid arthritis, social support and quality of life are the central concepts within the project. Goldberg and Hillier's 28-item scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used to measure the psychological aspect of quality of life. The scale is frequently used in Western Europe, but rarely in Central and Eastern Europe. Slovakia, a Central European country, joined the EURIDISS project in 1994. Therefore, the question emerged whether the psychometric properties of the Slovak version of the GHQ-28 are adequate to measure the psychological component of quality of life. In the current study the reliability and validity of the GHQ-28 in Slovak RA-patients are evaluated and the outcomes are discussed in the light of Western European (WE) results. The study examines the internal consistency and the factor structure of the instrument. In general, as far as the reliability figures and the intercorrelations of the scales are concerned, the results indicate that the psychometric qualities of the GHQ-28 in Slovakia are satisfactory. However, when taking into consideration the factor structure of the scale, as pointed out by the Principal Component Analysis, this reveals several differences. At least six out of the twenty-eight items appear to fit better to a different subscale from the original one. Especially, general health ratings, such as 'felt recently ill', initially attributed to subscale somatic symptoms, appear to he more closely associated with subscale anxiety/insomnia. More research on GHQ-28 in CEE countries is therefore recommended.

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