Concurrent and convergent construct validities of the 5-item World Health Organization Ageism Experiences Scale in...

Few instruments have a multi-faceted scope designed to capture several aspects of ageism across diverse contexts, known psychometrics qualities, and are available in multiple languages. The World Health Organization developed the Ageism Scale (WHO-ageism), a 5-item multi-faceted instrument, but its psychometrics qualities and French version are lacking. This study aimed to document the French translation of the WHO-ageism, verify its factor structure and internal consistency, and examine its concurrent construct validity with the Everyday Ageism Scale (EAS) and its convergent validity with social participation and life satisfaction, among older adults living in conventional dwellings (CD) and independent living facilities (ILF).

The WHO-ageism was translated according to the Translation, Review, Adjudication, Pretest, and Documentation approach. A cross-sectional survey was carried out with French-speaking adults aged 75+ years (n = 979). The concurrent and convergent construct validities of the WHO-ageism were examined with correlations with the EAS, social participation, and life satisfaction scales.

Translation was finalized without disagreements. Respondents averaged 82.2 years (SD = 5.4), with two-thirds women. The 5-item version presented a single-factor structure and a minimally acceptable internal consistency. WHO-ageism presented satisfactory convergent validity with the EAS (r = .40; p < .001), among women and men (r = .29 and .43; p < .001), and in CD and ILF (r = .43 and .28; p < .001). It correlated weakly with social participation (r = -.09; p < .01) and life satisfaction (r = -.28; p < .001).

These results demonstrate the WHO-ageism's single-factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity, supporting its use in large population surveys to inform strategies addressing ageism.