Psychometric properties of the Icelandic manchester short assessment of quality of life (MANSA) and its possible utility in Iceland

• Main Author: Óttar Guðbjörn Birgisson 1984-
• Other Authors: Háskólinn í Reykjavík
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Sálfræði; Meistaraprófsritgerðir; Lífsgæði; Geðklofi; Psychology; Quality of life; Schizophrenia; Mansa; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/25731

Quality of life measures are getting popular within psychiatric services but no sufficiently reliable and valid instrument is available in Iceland, when it comes to measuring people with long-term mental illness. The need for such an instrument and its possible utility in Iceland is emphasized. This study looks at the psychometric properties of the Icelandic version of Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of life (MANSA) and explores the relationship between the symptoms of schizophrenia and MANSA. Reliability was assessed amongst students (n = 116) and psychiatric patients (n = 31) who were also administered other instruments to assess validity. Results show that MANSA is reliable (α = .84 and .90; r = .82) and has a good construct validity. MANSA shows only a moderate relationship with symptoms of schizophrenia suggesting that symptom-based instruments are not sufficient when measuring beneficial outcomes. It is implicated that MANSA can be a useful outcome measure in the psychiatry wards and special housing programs in Iceland.