Validation and psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Quality-of-Life Scale (QOLS) with a sample of general and special education teachers

This study was performed to validate the Arabic version of the 15-item Quality-of-Life Scale (QOLS) using a sample of 401 teachers, including 235 general education teachers and 166 special education teachers. The psychometric properties of the QOLS were evaluated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). EFA supported a two factor solution, explaining 55.6% of the total variance, with Factor 1 reflecting personal and social well-being and Factor 2 reflecting leisure and autonomy. Internal consistency was excellent, with Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients of .91 and .92 for the total scale, respectively. Convergent validity was established via a strong positive correlation with the WHOQOL-Bref (r = .78), while discriminant validity was confirmed through a moderate negative correlation with the Health and Suffering Scale (r = –.57). CFA demonstrated acceptable model fit indices (CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.085, SRMR = 0.05), supporting the stability of the two-factor structure. Multi-CFA further indicated that measurement invariance was achieved across gender at configural, metric, and scalar levels, whereas full invariance was not supported across educational levels. The findings indicate that the Arabic QOLS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing quality of life among physically active adult populations such as teachers. Implications for its application in educational and research contexts, as well as limitations regarding factor structure differences from the original QOLS, are discussed.