The Quality of Life of Men Who Have Sex with Men in China: Reliability and Validity Testing of the SF-36 Questionnaire

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess the psychometric properties of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in the men who have sex with men (MSM) population in China. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 373 MSM from September to December, 2012, in Zhengzhou and Huludao City, China. Internal reliability of the questionnaire was calculated by Cronbach’s α coefficient. Validity was analyzed through construct validity, divisional validity, and collective validity testing. RESULTS: The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of the SF-36 questionnaire was 0.943, while the Cronbach’s α coefficients for each of the dimensions were all > 0.70. Results showed that the SF-36 questionnaire was reliable and valid. CONCLUSIONS: This study provided evidence that the SF-36 is an acceptable, valid and reliable instrument in evaluating the quality of life of MSM in Mainland China.