Assessment of psychometric properties of the Korean SF-12 v2 in the general population.

BACKGROUND

The psychometric properties of the Korean Short Form-12 Health Survey, version 2 (SF-12 v2) have not been assessed in the general population. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the SF-12 v2 in the general population and to provide SF-12 v2 domain scores according to the general characteristics of the study population.

METHODS

A total of 1,000 participants from the general Korean population were recruited using a multistage quota sampling method. Psychometric properties were evaluated by descriptive statistics, validity, reliability, and exploratory factor analysis.

RESULTS

Item convergent and discriminant validity met the criteria established by the instrument developer. In the known-group comparison, male gender, age <60 years, high educational status, and absence of any comorbidity were significantly associated with high scale scores. The reliability of all SF-12 v2 items was 0.88.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study generally support the idea that the Korean SF-12 v2 is a feasible, valid, and reliable instrument for assessing health-related quality of life in the general population. The SF-12 v2 seems to be a viable alternative health-related quality of life instrument for the Korean population.