http://www.hqlo.com/content/1/1/60
1 School of Nursing Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
2 School of Nursing, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington, USA
2 School of Nursing, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington, USA
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2003, 1:60
doi:10.1186/1477-7525-1-60
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.hqlo.com/content/1/1/60
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.hqlo.com/content/1/1/60
| Received: | 22 July 2003 |
| Accepted: | 23 October 2003 |
| Published: | 23 October 2003 |
© 2003 Burckhardt and Anderson; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
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Abstract
The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS), created originally by American psychologist John
Flanagan in the 1970's, has been adapted for use in chronic illness groups. This paper
reviews the development and psychometric testing of the QOLS. A descriptive review
of the published literature was undertaken and findings summarized in the frequently
asked questions format. Reliability, content and construct validity testing has been
performed on the QOLS and a number of translations have been made. The QOLS has low
to moderate correlations with physical health status and disease measures. However,
content validity analysis indicates that the instrument measures domains that diverse
patient groups with chronic illness define as quality of life. The QOLS is a valid
instrument for measuring quality of life across patient groups and cultures and is
conceptually distinct from health status or other causal indicators of quality of
life.
Keywords:
Quality of Life Scale; QOLS; chronic illness outcomes; quality of life evaluationWhy assess Quality of Life in chronic illness?
Quality of life (QOL) measures have become a vital and often required part of health
outcomes appraisal. For populations with chronic disease, measurement of QOL provides
a meaningful way to determine the impact of health care when cure is not possible.
Over the past 20 years, hundreds of instruments have been developed that purport to
measure QOL [1]. With few exceptions, these instruments measure what Fayers and colleagues [2,3] have called causal indicators of QOL rather than QOL itself. Health care professionals
need to be clear about the conceptual definition of QOL and not to confound it with
functional status, symptoms, disease processes, or treatment side-effects [4-7]. Although the definition of QOL is still evolving, Revicki and colleagues define
QOL as "a broad range of human experiences related to one's overall well-being. It
implies value based on subjective functioning in comparison with personal expectations
and is defined by subjective experiences, states and perceptions. Quality of life,
by its very natures, is idiosyncratic to the individual, but intuitively meaningful
and understandable to most people [[8], p. 888]." This definition denotes a meaning for QOL that transcends health. The
Quality of Life Scale (QOLS) first developed by American psychologist, John Flanagan,
[9,10] befits this definition of QOL.
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