Reliability and validity of Persian version of Medical Outcome Study-HIV health survey in Iranian people living with HIV

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the medical outcome study human immunodeficiency virus (MOS-HIV) health survey among people living with HIV or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in Iran is our main goal in this study. METHODS: The MOS-HIV questionnaire was translated into Persian using backward translation and the Persian version was filled by 100 HIV infected patients. Reliability of the questionnaire was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the total questionnaire and for each dimension. Convergent, discriminant and construct validity were performed. Comparisons were performed between the subscales of the questionnaire in Iran and some other countries with t-test. RESULTS: The overall Cronbach's alpha in this study was 0.90 and the range of this coefficient was from 0.71 to 0.86 across the subscales with two exceptions, general health perception and role functioning, which were at 0.65 and 0.61. Convergent and discriminant validity were excellent in all domains. The two factor confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit based on standardized estimates of factor loading, incremental and absolute fit indices. CONCLUSION: The Persian version of the MOS-HIV had good reliability and validity in measuring health related quality of life in people living with HIV in Iran. Furthermore, quality of life for HIV infected patients was very low in comparing with the people in some other countries.