The fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) tool: development and general psychometric properties(†)

Boivin, Jacky; Takefman, Janet; Braverman, Andrea

factor analyses. Table III shows factor loadings for the Online and (in parenthesis) Clinic samples for the Core FertiQoL and Optional Treatment Module domains. The first factor explaining item variance in the Core FertiQoL was the Emotional subscale explaining 31.8% (Online) and 37.8% (Clinic) of the item variability. Other factors (mind/body, relational and social) explained 10% or less of the item variance but all eigenvalues were above one. Loadings showed that items conceptualized to tap into the same concepts all had high factor loadings (.0.30) on their designated factor. Cross-loadings were observed for items of the mind/body (i.e. concentration, life on hold) and social domains (i.e. isolation, shame) onto the emotional domains. For the Optional Treatment Module, the first factor was Treatment Environment, explaining 34.0% (Online) and 38.0% (Clinic) of item variance. There were no cross-loadings for the Treatment Quality and Treatment Tolerability subscales. Table IV shows summary information for all FertiQoL scales. Core FertiQoL and Treatment FertiQoL were normally distributed and individual subscales were normally distributed (data not shown), with only the relational subscale showing mild positive skew toward more favorable QoL in this domain.