Assessing quality of life in middle-aged and older adults with HIV: psychometric testing of the WHOQOL-HIV-Bref

Purpose The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the World Health Organization quality of life in HIV infection, abbreviated version (WHOQOL-HIV-Bref) in a sample of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients aged 50 years and older. Methods The sample consisted of 185 patients, recruited in the main departments of infectious diseases of 10 Portuguese hospitals. In addition to the WHOQOL-HIV-Bref, patients also completed the brief symptom inventory, a self-report questionnaire for measuring psychopathological symptoms. Results The European Portuguese version of WHOQOL-HIV-Bref showed acceptable reliability (Cronbach's alpha range 0.65-0.86 across domains). Confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the original six-domain structure. Convergent validity with depressive and psychopathological symptoms was satisfactory for all domains. Overall quality of life (QoL), physical and independence domains discriminated well subjects considering the HIV stage. None of the domains were significantly different according to CD4+ T cell count subgroups. Conclusions These results offer promising support for the use of the WHOQOL-HIV-Bref as a measure of QoL among HIV-infected patients aged 50 years and older. Its briefness and multidimensionality allow a more practical and comprehensive assessment of QoL, both on clinical and research settings.