Validation of the SF12 mental and physical health measure for the population from a low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The Short Form Survey 12-item (SF12) mental and physical health version has been applied in several studies on populations from Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the SF12 has not been computed and validated for these populations. We address in this paper these gaps in the literature and use a health intervention example in Malawi to show the importance of our analysis for health policy.

Methods

We firstly compute the weights of the SF12 physical and mental health measure for the Malawian population using principal component analysis on a sample of 2838 adults from wave four (2006) of Malawian Longitudinal Study of Aging (MLSFH). We secondly test the construct validity of our computed and the US-population weighted SF12 measures using regression analysis and Fixed Eff

SUBMITTER: Ohrnberger J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7081543 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature