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The Subjective Health Complaints Inventory: A useful instrument to identify various aspects of health and ability to cope in older people?

Faculty of Health and Sport, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, elin.thygesen{at}uia.no

Torill Christine Lindstrom

Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

Hans Inge Saevareid

Faculty of Health and Sport, University of Agder, Arendal, Norway

Knut Engedal

Norwegian Centre for Dementia Research, Centre for Ageing and Health, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Ullevaal University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway

Aims: The aims were to investigate the factor structure of the Subjective Health Complaints Inventory (SHC) in a population of 75 years and above and to identify whether somatic, psychosocial, and coping factors were associated with the SHC factors. Methods: Data from 242 elderly persons were analyzed. The measures were: the SHC Inventory, Sense of Coherence, Social Provision Scale, Self-Rated Health, General Health Questionnaire, Clinical Dementia Rating, Reported Illness, Barthel ADL Index, sex, age, and education. Results: The factor analysis resulted in four subgroups: musculoskeletal pain (15% of variance), gastrointestinal problems (12% of variance), respiratory/allergy complaints (11% of variance), and pseudoneurology (11% of variance). The occurrence of complaints was 76% for musculoskeletal complaints, 51% for gastrointestinal complaints, 30% for flu, 43% for allergy, and 93% for pseudoneurology. Self-rated health and reported illness were significantly associated with musculoskeletal complaints (15% of variance), impairment in activities of daily living (ADL) with gastrointestinal complaints (3% of variance), and finally sense of coherence, self-rated health, and psychological distress were associated with pseudoneurology (32% of variance). No variables were associated with respiratory/allergy complaints. Conclusions: This study supports the stability of the SHC’s factor structure. The low occurrence of health complaints could possibly be due to survival effects, or that old people to a greater extent than younger people compare themselves with aged peers. The subscales focusing on somatic symptoms were explained by reported illnesses and functional impairments to a limited degree only. The pseudoneurology subscale score was associated with psychological measures, particularly ability to cope.

Key Words: Factor analysis • older people • subjective health complaints

This version was published on September 1, 2009

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 37, No. 7, 690-696 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1403494809344104


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