ABSTRACT
Our study presents the Hungarian adaptation of the Mental Health Quality of Life Questionnaire (MHQoL). BACKGROUND: In recent decades, there has been a shift in the field of healthcare, with a notable change in the ultimate goal of health interventions. Rather than merely reducing symptoms and prolonging life, the objective of health interventions is now to improve quality of life. A number of measures of quality of life have been developed, but the majority of these focus exclusively on physical health and do not fully cover the dimensions that are relevant to the quality of life of people with mental health problems. Van Krugten et al. have developed the Mental Health Quality of Life (MHQoL) questionnaire, which covers the seven most important dimensions of mental health-related quality of life. OBJECTIVES: Our research had the following two main aims. Firstly, it aimed to develop and test a Hungarian adaptation of the Mental Health Quality of Life (MHQoL) questionnaire. Secondly, it aimed to compare the results of healthy individuals and those with diagnosed psychiatric disorders. METHODS: A total of 189 individuals participated in the survey, with 157 classified as psychiatrically healthy and 32 diagnosed with a mental disorder, of which 20 were in acute psychiatric care and 12 were in outpatient care. The data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis and independent samples t-test. RESULTS: Our confirmatoriy factor analysis indicated that all items show a good fit with the model. The factor weights for each item were observed to range from 0.45 to 0.79. The Cronbach's α index obtained in our reliability analysis of the MHQoL demonstrated exceptional internal reliability: an index value of 0.81, with individual item- specific reliability coefficients ranging from 0.7 to 0.81. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to assess the statistical significance of differences in mean scores between respondents with and without a psychiatric diagnosis. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the means of the two groups for items pertaining to future vision, mood, relationships and physical health, as well as when comparing the mean scores of the MHQoL total score and the mean scores of psychological well-being. The majority of variables exhibited statistically significant differences from each other, with medium effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: The results thus far indicate that the Hungarian version of the MHQoL is an effective instrument for differentiating between individuals with and without mental illness, based on psychometric indicators. Furthermore, it provides valuable insights into the domains in which psychiatric illnesses have the greatest impact on patients' quality of life. The objective of our future research is to further validate the MHQoL questionnaire in order to contribute to the concept of healthcare that focuses not only on eliminating symptoms but also on improving quality of life.
