Development and Validation of the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire

• Published in: Headache Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 295 - 302
• Main Authors: Jhingran, Priti, Osterhaus, Jane T., Miller, David W., Lee, Jeffrey T., Kirchdoerfer, Leonard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: USA/Oxford, UK American Association for the Study of Headache/Blackwell Science Ltd 01.04.1998; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Female; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; Health Status; health-related quality of life; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; migraine; Migraine Disorders - psychology; Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire; MSQ; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; psychometric analysis; Psychometrics; Quality of Life; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Human; Nervous system diseases; Questionnaire; Migraine; Cardiovascular disease; Psychometrics; Test reliability; Long term; Cerebral disorder; Quality of life; Vascular disease; Item analysis; Test validation; Construct validity; Pain; Central nervous system disease; Cerebrovascular disease
• ISSN: 0017-8748; 1526-4610
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1526-4610.1998.3804295.x

This paper describes the development and validation of a migraine‐specific quality‐of‐life instrument that is capable of measuring health‐related quality‐of‐life impairments attributed to migraine. Item selection, item reduction, and pretesting and finalization of items during the instrument development phase resulted in a total of 16 questions which were incorporated into the Migraine‐Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (Version 1:0) (©1992 Glaxo Wellcome Inc). Three meaningful dimensions were hypothesized: Role Function‐Restrictive, Role Function‐Preventive, and Emotional Function. In the instrument validation phase, the Migraine‐Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire was mailed to 1109 migraine patients, providing a response rate of 45% (n=458). Initial psychometric evaluation of the questionnaire indicated that it possessed adequate reliability with Cronbach's alpha for the three dimensions ranging between 0.70 to 0.85. The Migraine‐Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire possessed adequate content and criterion validity. All but three items satisfied the test of construct validity. In conclusion, the Migraine‐Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire has acceptable psychometric properties and can be used to estimate the effect of migraine and its treatment on the patient's health‐related quality of life.