Application of WHOQOL-BREF in Measuring Quality of Life in Health-Care Staff

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of Neyshabur health-care staff and some factors associated with it with use of WHOQOL-BREF scale. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 522 staff of Neyshabur health-care centers from May to July 2011. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was applied to examine the internal consistency of WHOQOL-BREF scale; Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the level of agreement between different domains of WHOQOL-BREF. Paired t-test was used to compare difference between score means of different domains. T-independent test was performed for group analysis and Multiple Linear Regression was used to control confounding effects. RESULTS: In this study, a good internal consistency (α = 0.925) for WHOQOL-BREF and its four domains was observed. The highest and the lowest mean scores of WHOQOL-BREF domains was found for physical health domain (Mean = 15.26) and environmental health domain (Mean = 13.09) respectively. Backward multiple linear regression revealed that existence chronic disease in staff was significantly associated with four domains of WHOQOL-BREF, education years was associated with two domains (Psychological and Environmental) and sex was associated with psychological domain (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study confirm that the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire is a reliable instrument to measure quality of life in health-care staff. From the data, it appears that Neyshabur health-care staff has WHOQOL-BREF scores that might be considered to indicate a relatively moderate quality of life.