Internal consistency and factor structure of 12-item general health questionnaire in visually impaired students

BACKGROUND: As there are no instruments to measure psychological wellness or distress in visually impaired students, we studied internal consistency and factor structure of GHQ-12 in visually impaired children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Internal consistency analysis (Cronbach's alpha and item total correlation) and exploratory factor analysis (principal component analysis) were carried out to identify factor structure of 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-12). RESULTS: All items of GHQ-12 were significantly associated with each other and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the scale was 0.7. On analysis of principal component, three-factor solution was found that accounted for 47.92% of the total variance. The factors included, ‘general well-being’, ‘depression’ and ‘cognitive’, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients being 0.70, 0.59, and 0.34, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our study findings suggest GHQ-12 is a reliable with adequate internal consistency scale and multidimensional factor structure in visually impaired students.