Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale in Iranian community-dwelling Older persons

Objectives: Loneliness is a significant concern among the elderly, and requires measurement and intervention. This study was conducted with the aim of translating and psychometric evaluation of the 6-item de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale in Iranian elderly people. Material&Methods: This  is a descriptive study carried out in 2018.After receiving permission from the  tool designer the original version of  6-item de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale was translated into Persian by the translation-back translation method. Then its face and content validities were determined. The Persian final version was completed by 224 eligible elderly residents in Khorramabad. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the Pearson correlation coefficient, the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and the Cronbachchr('39')s alpha. The softwares SPSS and AMOS were used and the significance was determined at the level of p≤ 0.05. Findings: The Persian version of the 6-item de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale had an acceptable content validity (CVI = 0.874).  Confirmative factor analysis indicated the extraction of two factors: emotional loneliness and social loneliness (CMIN/DF=1.48, GFI=0.983, IFI=0.983, RMSEA=0.004). The overall loneliness score showed significant correlation with hospital anxiety and depression scale. The reliability of the scale was accepted by intra-class correlation coefficient and Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficient. Conclusion:  The Persian version of the 6-item de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale is a reliable and valid measure of loneliness in Iranian elders.