Construct validity and reliability of the Medical Outcomes Study-Social Support Survey in university students

Abstract

Social support is defined as “an exchange of resources between at least two people, from the provider’s or the recipient’s perspective aiming to improve the recipient’s well-being condition». Methodology: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study which included 542 university students over 18 years of age, sampled at convenience; sociodemographic characteristics were evaluated, and we applied the Medical Outcomes Study-Social Support Survey questionnaire. To evaluate the hierarchical structure, the technique “exploratory factor analysis by means of the principal components method” was used, whit varimax rotation, according to the de gree of correlation between them. The correlation matrix’s determinant and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (valid with values above 0.5) were established through Bartlett’s sphericity test. To estimate reliability, Omega coefficient was used after factors’ consolidation. Results: Information was obtained from 510 individuals, of which 263 were female (51.6 %); the average age was 24.8 with a standard deviation of S.D 2.6. Three factors were estimated for the exploratory factor analysis, explaining 63.559 % of the variance. The internal consistency by factor presented omega coefficient values ranged from 0.850 to 0.940 and an overall general omega of 0.920. Conclusion: Construct validity and reliability of the questionnaire in university students show acceptable values; However, these results should be used with caution, as further analyses should be developed corroborate our study’s results. © 2023, Universidad del Norte. All rights reserved.