Purpose: To evaluate whether the WHOQOL-BREF measures the QOL construct in the same way across nations.
Methods: Students from Flanders, Belgium and Iran completed the WHOQOL-BREF as part of a larger Quality of Life questionnaire. Their responses were compared using a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis.
Results: In general, the QOL construct appears rather similar in both cultures; however, participants from both countries seem to respond differently to particular items of the WHOQOL-BREF. Especially for the physical and psychological domain, this is problematic, because none of their indicators works in the same way across samples.
Conclusions: Notwithstanding some limitations of this study, it must be concluded that the WHOQOL-BREF should only be used with great caution in cross-national comparisons.
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