Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment
Volume 29, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 39-46

The SF-36 among Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees: An examination of psychometric properties (Article)

Hinton D.E.* , Sinclair S.J. , Chung R.C.-Y. , Pollack M.H.
  • a Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, Southeast Asian Clinic, Arbour Counseling Services, Lowell, MA, United States, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, WACC 812, 15 Parkman Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States
  • b Health Assessment Lab., Boston, MA, United States
  • c George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States
  • d Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

Among traumatized Cambodian (N=90) and Vietnamese (N=94) refugees attending a psychiatric clinic, the study examined the validity and psychometric properties of the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), a measure of self-perceived mental and physical health. In both patient samples, all eight SF-36 scales displayed excellent internal consistency (item-scale correlations and Cronbach's α). But, similar to other studies of Asian samples, (a) the Vitality (VT) scale did not separate from the Mental Health (MH) and General Health (GH) scales, as evidenced by item-scale and interscale correlations, and (b) the VT scale loaded as strongly (Vietnamese sample) or more strongly (Cambodian sample) than the MH scale on the so-called Mental Factor in a two-factor solution of the eight scales (with the GH scale also loading heavily on the same factor). © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

Author Keywords

SF-36 culture Vietnamese Stress disorder Cambodians Health status Posttraumatic Refugees Southeast Asians

Index Keywords

male Short Form 36 female Viet Nam health status validity refugee psychotrauma Cambodia psychometry Article scoring system mental health human adult mental health center
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33846524849&doi=10.1007%2fs10862-006-9022-0&partnerID=40&md5=783a7be21a4260980920cdfd0a38861d
DOI: 10.1007/s10862-006-9022-0
ISSN: 08822689
Cited by: 17
Original Language: English