Turkish Translation and Cross-Cultural Validity of WHOQOL-HIV Bref Tool

Area of Science:

• Psychometric validation
• Health-related quality of life assessment
• HIV/AIDS research

Background:

• Assessing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is crucial for people living with HIV (PLWH), informing treatment and psychosocial support.
• The World Health Organization Quality of Life HIV instrument (WHOQOL-HIV Bref) is a key tool for this assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt and validate the Turkish version of the WHOQOL-HIV Bref for use with PLWH in Turkey.
• To ensure the instrument accurately measures HRQoL in the target population.

Main Methods:

• Translation and cultural adaptation of the WHOQOL-HIV Bref.
• Psychometric evaluation including content, construct, concurrent, and known-group validity.
• Assessment of internal consistency and reliability using statistical methods on 189 PLWH.

Main Results:

• The Turkish WHOQOL-HIV Bref demonstrated satisfactory overall psychometric properties.
• The instrument showed good internal consistency (alpha=0.93) and strong test-retest reliability (ICC=0.79).
• While the spirituality domain had limitations, overall validity was strong across multiple metrics.

Conclusions:

• The Turkish version of the WHOQOL-HIV Bref is a reliable and valid instrument.
• This validated tool can be effectively used to assess the quality of life in Turkish PLWH.
• The findings support the use of the Turkish WHOQOL-HIV Bref for clinical and research purposes.