Examining Psychometric Characteristics of a Menopausal Health Questionnaire: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Persian Version

摘要

Introduction: Menopause is a natural event in a woman’s life which affects her general health and quality of life.However, currently there is no Persian instrument for measuring health status during this period. Therefore, thepresent study was performed to assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Menopausal HealthQuestionnaire in Iran.Methods: The questionnaire was translated to Persian with the approach of Jones et al and its validity wasassessed by a panel of experts. The Persian version was tested among 300 patients who had referred to thegynecological clinic at the Ali ibn Abi Talib Hospital in Zahedan. Convenience method was used for sampling.Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess construct validity of collected data. Test-retest method was used todetermine reliability in two-week intervals and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to check the internalconsistency.Results: According to research findings, the exploratory factor analysis showed an acceptable fitness. Varimaxrotation indicated 6 factors with Eagan values more than 1, which explained 49.27% of the variance. Cronbach'salpha coefficient for the entire tool was 0.84 and it was from 0.50 to 0.82 for the subcategories. All factors had asignificant case-total correlation. Results of test-retest showed the stability of the questionnaire and itssubcategories, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was assessed to be 0.93.Conclusions: The 14-item Menopausal Health Questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument to assesspostmenopausal women’s health.