Developing health status index using factor analysis

Abstract

This paper intends to develop health status index among drug abuse prison inmates in Malaysia. A self-admistered questionnaire distributed to 1753 respondents. In this study, to calculate the health status index number of drug abuse inmates, descriptive and factor analyses applied. The data based on 10 indicators of health status were analyzed using factor analysis (principal component, varimax rotation) and two factors extracted after analyzation, each identified as physical health and mental health. 55% of the total variance achieved. The descriptive and factor analyses applied to quantify the multidimensional vagueness term of “health”, that is somewhat never been completely studied. The study output, five health group classified poor (3%), bad (19%), moderate (41%), good (29%) and excellent (8%).Keywords: index; factor analysis; descriptive analysis; health questionnaire