Reliability and Validation of the Vietnamese Utian Quality-of-Life Scale in Postmenopausal Women
Dao Trong Quan, Jun-2026, In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 23, 6, p. 798
Overview
Abstract:
Highlights
Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue?
- Menopause affects multiple dimensions of women’s well-being, yet no culturally adapted instrument exists to assess menopause-specific quality of life in Vietnamese women, limiting an accurate evaluation of the health needs of this growing population.
- The Vietnamese Utian Quality of Life (VN-UQOL) Scale addresses this gap by providing a validated tool to measure occupational, health, emotional, and sexual quality of life in postmenopausal women, enabling a comprehensive assessment beyond symptom-based approaches.
Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health?
- The VN-UQOL demonstrates strong psychometric properties (Cronbach’s α = 0.87 overall; sub-scales 0.81–0.93), confirming its reliability and validity for use in community-based research and clinical practice with Vietnamese postmenopausal women.
- Successful cultural adaptation of the UQOL facilitates Vietnam’s participation in international menopause research and enables cross-country comparisons, contributing to the global understanding of menopause-related quality of life across diverse populations.
Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policymakers and/or researchers in public health?
- Clinicians now have access to a brief, standardized, culturally appropriate instrument (23 items, 15–20 min) to identify women with compromised quality of life and monitoring responses to interventions in primary care, gynecology, and menopause specialty settings.
- Researchers can utilize the VN-UQOL as a validated outcome measure for studies examining menopause transitions, evaluating interventions, and informing health-service planning for the growing population of midlife women in Vietnam.
Abstract
The absence of a culturally adapted instrument to assess menopause-specific quality of life in Vietnamese women limits both clinical practice and research in this population. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and psychometrically validate the Vietnamese version of the Utian Quality of Life (VN-UQOL) Scale. A cross-sectional design was employed with 384 community-dwelling postmenopausal women aged 46–65 years. The UQOL was translated and adapted following established guidelines, including forward-back translation, expert review, and pilot testing. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha, construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and concurrent validity via Pearson correlations with the Vietnamese Menopause Rating Scale (VN-MRS). The VN-UQOL demonstrated excellent internal consistency, with a total scale Cronbach’s alpha of 0.87 and sub-scale alphas ranging from 0.81 to 0.93. Content validity indices (I-CVI, S-CVI) were 1.0. CFA confirmed the original four-factor structure, with all factor loadings exceeding 0.50 and good model fit indices (CFI = 0.921, RMSEA = 0.072). Concurrent validity was supported by significant negative correlations between the VN-UQOL sub-scales and corresponding VN-MRS domains (p < 0.01). The VN-UQOL is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing menopause-specific quality of life in Vietnamese women, providing a valuable tool for clinical practice and research in this underserved population.
Keyword(s): Keywords: menopause; quality of life; Vietnamese women; UQOL; psychometric validation
| Article number | 798 |
| Journal | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Publication status | Published - Jun-2026 |
| ISBN | 1660-4601 |