Validation of a new patient-generated questionnaire for quality of life in an urban sample of elder residents

• Published in: Quality of life research Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 131 - 135
• Main Authors: Holzhausen, Martin, Martus, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.02.2013; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - psychology; Analysis of Variance; Brief Communication; Comorbidity; Decision making; Epidemiology; Female; Health Status; Humans; Language; Male; Materials; Mathematical validity; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Older adults; Older people; Patient Participation; Personal Satisfaction; Psychometrics; Psychometrics - instrumentation; Public Health; Quality of Life; Quality of Life Research; Questionnaires; Reproducibility of Results; Self Report; Sociology; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Urban Population; Validation studies; Validity; Vitality; Wellbeing; Germany; Life-satisfaction; Old age; Methods; Quality of life; Validation study
• ISSN: 0962-9343; 1573-2649; 1573-2649
• DOI: 10.1007/s11136-012-0115-9

Purpose To provide evidence for the validity of the Fragebogen zur Lebensqualität multimorbider älterer Menschen (FLQM; English: Quality of life in elders with multimorbidity), a new tool for the assessment of life-satisfaction as a subjective indicator of quality of life in old age. Methods The FLQM measures overall life-satisfaction based on those self-generated domains in life that are most important to the respondent. Construct validity (correlations with convergent and divergent scales) and differential validity (subgroup differences with respect to age and limitations in everyday functioning) were analyzed in an urban sample of older adults (n = 299; 54.6% male; Mean (age) = 75.65 years, SD = 6.57). Results Correlations of FLQM with measures of similar constructs were close (r = 0.35–0.50; p < 0.001). There were no age-group differences. However, subjects with self-reported impairment in functioning scored significantly lower on the FLQM. Also, the relationship between FLQM and self-rated health was close (r = 0.44; p < 0.001). Conclusions The FLQM is a valid assessment of older peoples' life-satisfaction. The focus on domains of utmost individual importance seems to link the FLQM to self-rated health more closely than other ratings of global life-satisfaction. Further investigation into the qualitative information obtained by the FLQM is desirable in order to explain individual compositions of life-satisfaction and overall quality of life.