General health questionnaire-28: Psychometric evaluation of the Slovak version

The EUropean Research on Incapacitating Diseases and Social Support (EURIDI SS) is an international longitudinal study focused on patients with Rheumat oid Arthritis (RA). It elaborates on the impact of the chronic disease on p atients' daily lives. Rheumatoid arthritis, social support and quality of l ife are the central concepts within the project. Goldberg and Hillier's 28- item scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used t o measure the psychological aspect of quality of life. The scale is frequen tly used in Western Europe, but rarely in Central and Eastern Europe. Slova kia, a Central European country, joined the EURIDISS project in 1994. There fore, the question emerged whether the psychometric properties of the Slova k version of the GHQ-28 are adequate to measure the psychological component of quality of life. In the current study the reliability and validity of t he GHQ-28 in Slovak RA-patients are evaluated and the outcomes are discusse d in the light of Western European (WE) results. The study examines the int ernal consistency and the factor structure of the instrument. In general, a s far as the reliability figures and the intercorrelations of the scales ar e concerned, the results indicate that the psychometric qualities of the GH Q-28 in Slovakia are satisfactory. However, when taking into consideration the factor structure of the scale, as pointed out by the Principal Componen t Analysis, this reveals several differences. At least six out of the twent y-eight items appear to fit better to a different subscale from the origina l one. Especially, general health ratings, such as 'felt recently ill', ini tially attributed to subscale somatic symptoms, appear to he more closely a ssociated with subscale anxiety/insomnia. More research on GHQ-28 in CEE co untries is therefore recommended.