Development and Assessment of Chinese General Quality of Life Instrument

Abstract

The measurements of quality of life have been increasingly studied and gradually accepted as an important measure of health in many countries of the world since the 1960s. In China, quality of life studies begun in the 1980s. A few general quality of life questionnaires were translated into the Chinese language, such as 100-Item World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHO-QOL-100) and the 36-Item Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Status Survey (SF-36). However, the sensitivity of the WHO-QOL-100 was not satisfactory for the Chinese population, while the SF-36 focused on measuring health status and does not include all facets of quality of life. Considering the great differences in culture and living habits between eastern and western populations, we carried out a series of studies to develop a general quality of life instrument (Chinese QOL-35), which included 35 items and is well in accordance with the habits of Chinese language, culture, and daily life. This article presents the development and evaluation of the Chinese QOL-35 with its reliability, validity and sensitivity, in comparison with Chinese version of WHO-QOL-100 and SF-36.