G. Mishra et Mj. Schofield, NORMS FOR THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL-HEALTH COMPONENT SUMMARY SCORES OF THE SF-36 FOR YOUNG, MIDDLE-AGED AND OLDER AUSTRALIAN WOMEN, Quality of life research, 7(3), 1998, pp. 215-220
The SF-36 was developed in the USA to provide an eight-scale health pr
ofile and two component summary scores representing physical and menta
l health. The published norms and scoring procedures are based on data
from the US general population. The Australian Longitudinal Study on
Women's Health (Women's Health Australia) undertook a survey in 1996 o
f approximately 42,000 Australian women in three age groups of 18-22,
45-49 and 70-74 years and provided age-and gender-specific norms for t
he SF-36 health profile. From these data, factor weights and factor sc
ore coefficients were calculated for these age-and gender-specific pop
ulations of Australian women. Thus, component summary scores for physi
cal and mental health can now be calculated using a formula standardiz
ed to the relevant Australian population. This will facilitate the int
erpretation of the physical and mental health component summary scores
in the Australian context and will allow more meaningful comparisons
within the young, middle-aged and older cohorts of Australian women in
the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. (C) 1998 Lippinc
ott-Raven Publishers.