Validation of the Slovenian Version of Short Sense of Coherence Questionnaire (SOC-13) in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

AIM: To validate the Slovenian version (SOC-13-SVN) of Sense of Coherence 13-item instrument (SOC-13) in Slovenian multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. METHODS: A consecutive 134 Slovenian MS patients were enrolled in a cross-sectional study in 2013. The reliability of the SOC-13-SVN was assessed for internal consistency by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α), dimensionality by the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and criterion validity by Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between SOC-13-SVN global score and MSQOL-54 composite scores – Mental Health Composite score (MHC) and Physical Health Composite score (PHC). RESULTS: For the SOC-13-SVN instrument as a whole, internal consistency was high (α(total)=0.88) while it was low for three subscales (α(comprehensibility)=0.79; α(manageability)=0.66; α(meaningfulness)=0.69). The results of the CFA confirmed a three-factor structure with good fit (RMSEA=0.059, CFI=0.953, SRMR=0.065), however, the correlations between the factors were very high (r(comprehensibility/manageability)=0.938; r(comprehensibility/meaningfulness)=0.811; r(manageability/meaningfulness)=0.930). The criterion validity analysis showed a moderate positive strength of relationship between SOC-13-SVN global score and both MSQOL-54 composite scores (MHC: r=0.597, p<0.001; PHC: r=0.437, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Analysis of some psychometric properties confirmed that this instrument is a reliable and valid tool for use in Slovenian MS patients. Despite the three-dimensional structure of the instrument, the use of the global summary score is encouraged due to the low reliability of the subscale scores and high correlations between them.