Development of a Quality-of-Life Rating Scale for Use in Health-Care Evaluation

Abstract

Many concepts derived from quality-of-life measurement research have been deemed appropriate for use in health-care research. However, available life-quality measurement instruments developed for use with chronically ill and disabled populations have limited research utility because of their relatively narrow foci. Development of a more widely applicable measure was undertaken, and the resultant instruments is described. Potential uses are also discussed.

Mental health and quality of life after feminizing genitoplasty

“…Scores of 100 and higher are generally considered to reflect a perception of a very good QoL, whereas scores in the 80s and lower are associated with a relatively poor QoL [13]. As recommended by the developer of the scale [12], the reliability of the scale was assessed; in the present study, Cronbach α for the Finnish LSS was .89, indicating good scale reliability.…”

“…Quality of life was measured by the 20-item Life Situation Survey (LSS) [12]. It is a measure developed to assess the QoL in disability and other disadvantages [13].…”

Quality of life assessment in non-Western cultures

“…The study explored QOL among Thai people using a Life Satisfaction Survey (LSS- Chubon, 1987), Health Status Scale (HSS- Lawton et al, 1982) and Index of Psychological Wellbeing (IPW-Berkman, 1971). In comparison to a standard baseline of QOL by Chubon (1990) in the American population, QOL among Thai people was poor and was not related to age, age of onset of drug use, educational level, marital status or employment.…”

Quality of Life: Meaning, Measurement, and Models

“…With these measures, researcher,,, are now able to directly assess the extent to which alternative therapies benefit patients (Kaplan & Anderson, 1988). Chubon (1987) described efforts to develop a quality of life measure that would be sensitive to factors associated with a wide spectrum of chronic illnesses and disabilities. Most instruments previously used for health-care evaluation had been disease specific or else concerned only with oblective indicators of functional deficits, such as physical measures.…”