Conclusions

The results of current study revealed that mean QoL score for all satisfaction ratings were found higher in females than males. However, there were no significant differences in mean QoL scores between male and female students in domains of physical health and psychological well-being (DOM2).

For domains of WHOQOL-BREF, Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.62 for social relationship domain to 0.76 for psychological well-being, indicating a good internal consistency. These findings indicate an acceptable internal consistency of WHOQOL-BREF scale. However, it seems that reliability of the social relationships domain needs more investigation ( ). Moreover as the social relationships domain calculation is based only on 3 items, whereas those for the other domains are based on 6 to 8 items, this lower value was not unexpected. Despite the minor problems above, overall, the utility of the WHOQOL-BREF assessment was demonstrated.

On the whole, sufficient reliability was observed, and the Iranian version of WHOQOL-BREF was deemed to be reliable in assessing the quality of life of a student population in Iran.
Our finding indicated no floor or ceiling effect for the overall QOL and general health facets and the 4 domains. However, the percentage of missing replies to item 21 (“How satisfied are you with your sex life?”) was a little high compared with those for other items. This might reflect the fact that participants found this question intrusive. The wording of this question might need to be changed to improve the applicability of the WHOQOL-BREF assessment. 

References