Quality of Life and Health-Related Quality of Life over 1 Year in Older Women: Monitoring Stability and Reliability of Measurement

Yvonne Learmonth (), Elizabeth Alwick (), Edward McAuley () and Robert Motl ()

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2015, vol. 123, issue 1, 267-279

Abstract: Assessing quality of life (QOL) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in older adults is important. Yet, limited research is available on the stability of these constructs and the psychometric properties of QOL [e.g., Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)] and HRQOL [e.g., Short-Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12)] measures in this population. Such knowledge is important for designing and interpreting interventions. We examined stability of QOL (SWLS) and HRQOL (SF-12) and their test–retest reliability, measurement error, and interpretability over 1 year in older Black and White women (n = 230). Stability and reliability were ascertained through paired sample t tests and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Standard error of measurement and coefficient of variation assessed measurement error. Smallest detectable change estimated score interpretability. QOL and HRQOL remained stable; ICC values indicated moderate reliability for the SWLS and SF-12 (SWLS = 0.73, SF-12 Physical Composite Summary = 0.69, SF-12 Mental Composite Summary = 0.58). Measurement error and interpretability estimates were similar for both the SWLS and SF-12. Interpretability estimates indicated a change in score of around 33 % may represent an important change. We provide novel data for selecting and interpreting QOL and HRQOL measures contributing to a better understanding of intervention efficacy. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Keywords: Clinical research; Gerontology; Measurement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-014-0729-0 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:soinre:v:123:y:2015:i:1:p:267-279

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11205-014-0729-0

Access Statistics for this article

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement is currently edited by Filomena Maggino

More articles in Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().