Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic Of Iran

en Development of a scale for measuring social health of Iranians living in three big cities Health Health Original Research Original Research Background: Social health is considered as a significant dimension of health and, hence, its assessment is vital in health planning. Within this context, this study aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale for measuring individual’s social health in Iran. To do so, an exploratory sequential mixed method was used. Methods: To establish the item pool and primary scale, 30 interviews with experts and other stakeholders, and a primary review of relevant literature and similar questionnaires were conducted. Then, a survey with 800 respondents from three cities in Iran was undertaken to assess the validity and reliability of the scale. Results: In the qualitative stage of this study, after careful consideration, forty questions were remained for the next step. Considering the correlation of the score of each question with the total score of the questionnaire, seven questions were omitted. For this questionnaire with 33 remaining questions, Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency was estimated to be 0.86. The reliability coefficient for 100 samples (taken after 7 to 10 days from the first round of sampling) was 0.91. Considering the factor analysis, three factors were recognized. These factors were named as “family”, “community” and “friends and relatives”. Cronbach's Alpha for internal consistency of community, friends and relatives, and family factors were estimated to be 0.91, 0.77 and 0.78 respectively. The corresponding value of the reliability indicator, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), for community, friends and relatives, and family were calculated 0.69, 0.80 and 0.67 respectively. Conclusion: We developed a measurable scale for social health at an individual level in the Iranian community with an acceptable level of validity and reliability. The new developed scale is able to provide an opportunity to measure Iranians’ social health at an individual level. Such an indicator of individual health can be used in evaluating the performance of social health policies and providing a platform for evidence-based policy-making in the social health context. Social health, Iran, Scale development, Measure. 6 14 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-607&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Kambiz Abachizadeh abachizade@gmail.com. 200319475328460017444 200319475328460017444 Yes Department of community medicine, Medical School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Battol Tayefi tayefi.betti@gmail.com. 200319475328460017445 200319475328460017445 No Department of community medicine, Medical School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Abbas Ali Nasehi dr_nasehi@yahoo.com 200319475328460017446 200319475328460017446 No Addiction Department of Health Deputy of Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran. Nadereh Memaryan naderememaryan@yahoo.com 200319475328460017447 200319475328460017447 No Social Health Bureau, Health Deputy of Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran. Maryam Rassouli rassouli.m@gmail.com 200319475328460017448 200319475328460017448 No Department of Pediatric Nursing, Nursing and Midwifery School, Shahid Beheshti University of MedicalSciences, Tehran, Iran. Soheila Omidnia ne_soha@yahoo.com 200319475328460017449 200319475328460017449 No Health Deputy of Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran. Leila Bagherzadeh l-bagherzadeh@gmail.com 200319475328460017450 200319475328460017450 No Medical School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.