The 36-item short form health survey: reliability and validity in Chinese medical students

Yang Zhang, Bo Qu, Shi-Si Lun, Ying Guo, Jie Liu, Yang Zhang, Bo Qu, Shi-Si Lun, Ying Guo, Jie Liu

Abstract

Objective: The 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) is widely validated and popularly used in assessing the subjective quality of life (QOL) of patients and the general public. The aim of the study is to assess the psychometric properties of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in medical students in mainland of China.

Methods: The reliability and validity of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire were assessed by conducting a cross-sectional study of Chinese medical students in December 2011. All 1358 3(rd) year and 4(th) year medical students from 46 classes at China Medical University were investigated.

Results: The overall Cronbach's α coefficient of the SF-36 questionnaire was 0.791, while the respective Cronbach's α coefficients for each of the seven dimensions were > 0.70, except where the social function dimension was 0.631. Results showed that the SF-36 questionnaire was reliable and valid.

Conclusion: In general, this study provides evidence that the SF-36 questionnaire is suitable measures for assess the QOL of medical students in China.

Keywords: Medical student; Quality of life; Reliability; The 36-item short form health survey (SF-36); Validity..

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare in relation to this article.

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