Validation of the Health Perceptions Questionnaire for an Older Mexican Population

Abstract

The objective was to translate, adapt, and validate the Health Perceptions Questionnaire for use on an older Mexican population. After translating and pretesting, three items were eliminated and answers were dichotomised. In the scale, 24 items were used to interview a representative sample of 4,966 respondents. Internal consistency was .91. Principal components analysis for categorical data gave four similar factors to those reported in the original version. Scoring was made by weighting items, using (A) homogeneous values (1 or 2) or (B) factor loadings (0–1.0). Scoring A is proposed for clinical settings or research since no differences were found and this procedure is easier to compute. Objective health indicators such as chronic diseases, depression, incontinence, death during follow up, and disability were associated with the self-perception of health measured with the revised version.