Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T01:08:50.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measuring Quality of Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2015

William J. Taylor  and
Kathryn M. McPherson
Get access

Extract

Demonstrating the effectiveness of health care interventions requires valid measurement of the impact, or outcome of those interventions. It is increasingly suggested that Quality of Life (QoL) is the ‘gold standard’ outcome internationally (Bowling 1995) and in Australasia (Mordue & Parkin, 1997). Although a number of QoL measures are now available, questions remain about the definition of the concept itself and the psychometric properties of those measures. A consequence of major concern is that health services research or clinical studies of healthcare interventions using inadequately defined outcomes or invalid measures will in turn produce results that lack validity. This paper explores a number of such issues concerning the concept of QoL and the way it is measured.

Type
Articles
Information
The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , 1999 , pp. 69 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Bergner, M., Bobbitt, R.A, Pollard, W.E., Martin, D.P., & Gilson, B.S. (1976). The Sickness Impact Profile: validation of a health status measure. Medical Care 14(1), 57–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergner, M. (1989). Quality of life, health status, and clinical research. Medical Care 27, S1, 48–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Billingham, L., Abrams, K., & Jones, D. (1999). Methods of analysis of quality-of-life and survival data in health technology assessment. Health Technology Assessment 3(10), 151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowling, A. (1995). “Quality of life” in social science and medicine. Social Science & Medicine 41(10), 1337–1465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devlin, N., & Williams, A. (1999). Valuing quality of life: results for New Zealand health professionals. New Zealand Medical Journal. 112(1083), 68–71.Google ScholarPubMed
Devlin, N., & Hansen, P. (1999). Ethical precepts of cost-utility analysis. Otago Bioethics Report 8(2), 16–20.Google Scholar
Dolan, P. (1997). Modeling valuations for EuroQol health states. Medical Care 35, 1095–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
EuroQol Group. (1990). EuroQol — A new facility for the measurement of health-related quality of life. Health Policy 16, 199–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krabbe, P.F., Essink-Bot, M.L., & Bonsel, G.J. (1997). The comparability and reliability of five health-state valuation methods. Social Science & Medicine 45, 1641–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunt, S.M., McKenna, S.P., McEwen, J., Williams, J., & Papp, E. (1981). The Nottingham Health Profile: subjective health status and medical consultations. Social Science & Medicine — Part A, Medical Sociology. 15(3 Pt 1), 221–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunt, S.M. (1999). Truth, language, and the status quo: implicit philosophies in quality of life measurement. The ISOQOL 6th Annual Conference November 3–6 1999, Barcelona, Spain.Google Scholar
Montazeri, A., Gillis, C.R., & McEwen, J. (1998). Quality of life in patients with lung cancer: a review of literature from 1970 to 1995. Chest 113(2), 467–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mordue, A., & Parkin, D.W. (1997). New Zealand priority criteria project. More use should be made of patient oriented quality of life measures. British Medical Journal 314(7087), 1130–1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Post, M.W.M., de Witte, L.P., & Schrijvers, A.J.P. (1999). Quality of life and the ICIDH: towards an integrated conceptual model for rehabilitation outcomes research. Clinical Rehabilitation 13, 5–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pratheepwanit, N., Salek, M.S., & Finlay, I.G. (1999). Health-related quality of life assessment in practice. The ISOQOL 6th Annual Conference November 3–6 1999, Barcehna, Spain.Google Scholar
Taylor, W, & McPherson, K.M. (1999a). Measuring Quality of LifeNew Zealand Rehabilitation Association Conference, Auckland, November 1999.Google Scholar
Taylor, W.J., & McPherson, K. (1999b). Measuring health-related quality of life. New Zealand Medical Journal 112, 239–240.Google ScholarPubMed
Renwick, R., Brown, I., & Nagler, M. (1996). Quality of life in health promotion. Conceptual approaches, issues and applications. Sage, Thousand Oaks.Google Scholar
Ruta, D.A., Garratt, A.M., Leng, M., Russell, I.T., & MacDonald, L.M. (1994). A new approach to the measurement of quality of life. The Patient-Generated Index. Medical Care 32, 1109–26.Google Scholar
Ruta, D.A., Garratt, A.M., & Russell, I.T. (1999). Patient centred assessment of quality of life for patients with four common conditions. Quality in Health Care 8, 22–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, D.T. (1992). Meosurement in Neurological Rehabilitation. Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications.Google ScholarPubMed
WHOQOL Group. (1998). The World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL): development and general psychometric properties. Social Science & Medicine 46(12), 1569–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WHOQOL Group (1995). The World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment (WHOQOL): position paper from the World Health Organization. Social Science & Medicine 41(10), 1403–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bibliography (including some previously stated references)

General Issues

International Society for Quality of Life Research — http://www.isoqol.org/Google Scholar
Fallowfield, L. (1996). Quality of quality-of-life data. Lancet 348, 421–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gill, T.M., & Feinstein, A.R. (1994). A critical appraisal of the quality of quality of life instruments. JAMA 272, 619–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leplege, A.(1997). The problem of quality of life in medicine. JAMA 278, 47–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Post, M.W.M., de Witte, L.P., & Schrijvers, A.J.P. (1999). Quality of life and the ICIDH: towards an integrated conceptual model for rehabilitation outcomes research. Clinical Rehabilitation 13, 5–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowell, I., & Newell, C. (1996). Measuring Health. A guide to rating scales and questionnaires. (Oxford University Press, New York).Google Scholar
Guyatt, G.H. (1997). Users’ guides to the medical literature. XII. How to use articles about health-related quality of life. Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group. JAMA 277, 1232–1237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Econometric methods (and the EuroQpl).Google Scholar
EuroQol website — http://www.eur.nl/bmg/imta/eq-net/index.htmGoogle Scholar
Guillemin, E (1999). The value of utility: assumptions underlying preferences and quality adjusted life years. J Rheum 26, 1861–1863.Google Scholar
Carr-Hill., R.A. (1992). A second opinion. Health related quality of life measurement — Euro style. Health Policy 20, 321–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolan, P. (1997). Modeling valuations for EuroQol health states. Medical Care 35, 1095–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
The EuroQol Group. (1990). EuroQol — A new facility for the measurement of health-related quality of life. Health Policy 16, 199–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudex, C., Dolan, P., Kind, P. & Williams, A. (1996). Health state valuations from the general public using the visual analogue scale. Quality of Life Research 5, 521–31CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hurst, N.P., Kind, P., Ruta, D., Hunter, M., & Stubbings, A. (1997). Measuring health-related quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis: validity, responsiveness and reliability of EuroQol (EQ-5D). British Journal of Rheumatology 36, 551–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Revicki, D.A. (1992). Relationship between health utility and psychometric health status measures. Medical Care 30, MS274–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Revicki, D.A., & Kaplan, R.M. (1993). Relationship between psychometric and utility-based approaches to the measurement of health-related quality of life. Quality of Life Research 2, 477–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anton, S.F., & Revicki, D.A. (1995). The use of decision analysis in the pharmacoeconomic evaluation of an antidepressant: A cost-effectiveness study of nefazodone. Psychopharmacology Bulletin 31, 249–58Google ScholarPubMed
Bennett, K.J., & Torrance, G.W. (1996). Measuring health state preferences and utilities: Rating scale, time trade-off, and standard gamble techniques, in Quality of Life and Pharmacoeconomics in Clinical Trials (ed. Spilker, B.) 253–266 (Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia,).Google Scholar

WHOQOL References

WHOQOL website — http://www.who.int/msa/mnh/mhp/ql.htmGoogle Scholar
The WHOQOL Group. (1996). What quality of life? The WHOQOL Group. World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment. World Health Forum 17, 354–6Google Scholar
The WHOQOL Group. (1995). The World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment (WHOQOL): position paper from the World Health Organization. Social Science & Medicine 41, 1403–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The WHOQOL Group. (1998). The World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL): development and general psychometric properties. Social Science & Medicine 46, 1569–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The WHOQOL Group. (1998). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOLBREF quality of life assessment. Psychological Medicine 28, 551–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Quality of Life Profile

QLP website — http://www.utoronto.ca/qol/Google Scholar
Renwick, R., Brown, I. & Nagler, M. (1996). Quality of life in health promotion. Conceptual approaches, issues and applications, (Sage, Thousand Oaks,).Google Scholar
Raphael, D., Brown, I., Renwick, R., & Rootman, I. (1997). Quality of life: what are the implications for health promotion? American Journal of Health Behavior 21, 118–28.Google Scholar
Renwick, R., Brown, I., &. Raphael, D. (1994). Quality of life. Linking a conceptual approach to service provision. Journal of developmental disabilities 3, 32–44.Google Scholar
Raphael, D.et al., (1995). The quality of life of seniors living in the community: a conceptualization with implications for public health practice. Canadian journal of Public Health 86, 228–33.Google ScholarPubMed

Patient Generated Index

PGI homepage — http://www.dundee.ac.uk/epidemiology/pgi/Google Scholar
Ruta, D. A., Garratt, A.M., Leng, M., Russell, I.T. & MacDonald, L.M. (1994). A new approach to the measurement of quality of life. The Patient-Generated Index. Medical Care 32, 1109–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herd, R.M., Tidman, M.J., Ruta, D.A., & Hunter, J.A. (1997). Measurement of quality of life in atopic dermatitis: correlation and validation of two different methods. British Journal of Dermatology 136, 502–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruta, D.A., Garratt, A.M., & I.T., Russell (1999). Patient centred assessment of quality of life for patients with four common conditions. Quality in Health Care 8, 22–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed