reliability and validity of the iranian version of the human immunodeficiency virus specific world health organization quality of life bref questionnaire

b a c k g r o u n d & aim: quality-of-life (qol) among human immunodeficiency  virus (hiv)-infected people  has  been  the  center  of  focus  worldwide.  the  world  health  organization  qol  group (whoqol  group)  has developed  a 31-item qol questionnaire,  which  has been  translated  and used in many countries. this paper aimed at examining the reliability and validity of persian version of hiv specific whoqol  scalebref  questionnaire  (whoqol-hiv  bref) in iranian patients suffering from hiv/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (aids). methods  &  materials:   for  the  purpose  of  this  cross-sectional   study,  a  standard  “ forward- backward” translation  and  cognitive  debriefing  were initially  applied.  subsequently,  150 people living with hiv/aids visitingtertiary referral consultation center for clients with risky behaviors in tehran completed the persian version of the questionnaire. validity was assessed using   known group comparison  through anova test. internal reliability was measured by cronbach 's  alpha and split-half coefficients. r e s u lt s :   whoqol-hiv   bref  was  capable  to  discriminate  between  two  groups  who  were different  in  their  qol  (p<  0.05).  internal  consistency  analysis  was  satisfactory  for  domains (cronbach’s alpha =0.64- 0.85), and whole the instrument (cronbach's alpha=0.93). c on c l u sio n :   the persian version of whoqol-hiv  bref is a reliable and valid instrument  to assess the qol among iranian hiv-infected population.