Abstract

Background: The real value of quality of life instruments must be tested in local populations before recommending their widespread use. Aim: To assess the factorial structure of the quality of life questionnaire proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), WHOQoL-Bref. Material and Methods: The questionnaire was answered by 2016 individuals aged between 20 and 59 years, from diverse public and social organizations of a city in Northern Chile. The confidence and factorial structure of the instrument were evaluated. Results: The internal consistency of the instrument, according to Cronbach's alpha was 0.89. The adjustment of values to a model with four factors proposed by the WHO was moderate. The root mean square (RMS) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) values of 0.043 and 0.061, indicate a good adjustment of the model. Conclusions: Although an absolute adjustment for the theoretical four factor model is not supported by these results, the WHOQoL-Bref is able to discriminate the perception of quality of life and the influence of age, gender and disease on this perception.