Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Social Health Scale for the Elderly (SHSE)

Social health and its measurement with a valid and reliable scale is important in elderly. Due to the unavailability of a specialized questionnaire, this study was planned with the aim of translation and psychometrics evaluation of Social Health Scale for the Elderly (SHSE) questionnaire.

This research is a methodological study of instrumental psychometrics. After translating the instrument, face validity, qualitative and quantitative content validity were evaluated. 160 older adults completed the questionnaire, and construct validity was evaluated using explanatory factor analysis. The internal consistency was calculated by Cronbach's alpha and stability was measured by test retest method and calculating Intra-Class Coefficient.

In the study, face validity, the content validity ratio and content validity index were 4.48, 0.72 and 0.96, respectively. In assessment of stability, theintra-classs correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.969. The questionnaire had three dimensions of "social support", "social adjustment", and "perceived environmental resources". Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the questionnaire had acceptable construct reliability, at it could explain the 39.473% of the social health.

The Persian version of the Social Health Questionnaire for the Elderly (SHSE) with omitting 2 items, can be used as a valid and reliable tool for research activities in Iran and provide important information to community health planners and policymakers.