Points to consider when choosing an instrument:
1. Do you want to describe a patient group, compare different groups, or evaluate a treatment outcome?
2. What perspective are you taking, biomedical, psychosocial, environmental?
3. What conceptual definition of quality of life did the instrument’s developers use? And do you agree philosophically with that definition?
4. Does the instrument contain the domains that you need to measure and not contain domains that are of little interest or importance to you and your population?
1. Who will give you the information, patients, care givers, health care providers? Recognize that each group will provide information that comes from their own perspective. Each group also may have a reason for answering the way they do. They may anticipate certain benefits for answering in a particular way.
1. Has the instrument been developed and tested in the same or similar population to the one you are studying?
2. Are the reliability and validity statistics reported for the instrument adequate in that population?
3. How long will it take to administer the instrument and does the amount of time fit with the amount of time your subjects or patients have?
4. If the instrument is translated, are you satisfied with the translation process?
Last updated 4 February 1999