Psychometric Properties of SF-36 in Sickle Cell Disease Patients Attending Outpatient Clinics in Ibadan, Nigeria

Purpose: This study assessed the psychometric properties of SF-36 and its factor structure in patients with sickle cell disease who are attending outpatient clinics in Nigeria.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, this study used a convenience sampling method to collect data from patients who visited the outpatient sickle cell clinics of two major hospitals in Ibadan, south west Nigeria. Reliability and validity were examined and factor analysis was carried out to determine the structure of the instrument in the population.

Results: Reliability of each of the dimensions was above 0.70. Item internal consistency ranged from 0.42 to 0.91 and scaling success ranged between 0.98 - 100%.

Conclusion: The instrument demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity and is suitable for assessing health-related quality of life in the sickle cell disease population.