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 alpha coefficient. Validity was analyzed through construct validity, divisional validity, and collective validity testing. Results: The overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the SF-36 questionnaire was 0.943, while the Cronbach's alpha 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.