The application of the drug user quality of life scale (DUQOL) in Australia

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

Katia Foresti⁴  Elham Zolfaghari¹  Rishi Sud²  Jonathan Emerson²  Carlos Zubaran³ 

[1] School of Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Department of Psychiatry, Western Sydney Local Health District, Blacktown Hospital, PO Box 6010, Blacktown, NSW 2148, Australia;School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Department of Psychiatry, Western Sydney Local Health District, Blacktown Hospital, PO Box 6010, Blacktown, NSW 2148, Australia;Department of Psychiatry, Western Sydney Local Health District, Blacktown Hospital, PO Box 6010, Blacktown, NSW 2148, Australia;Blacktown Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Western Sydney Local Health District, Blacktown Hospital, PO Box 6010, Blacktown, NSW 2148, Australia

关键词: Australia;    Validation studies;    Substance-related disorders;    Questionnaires;    Quality of life;   

Others  :  825801
DOI  :  10.1186/1477-7525-10-31

 received in 2011-11-22, accepted in 2012-03-18,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

The concept of quality of life relates to the perceptions of individuals about their mental and physical health as well as non-health related areas. The evaluation of quality of life in the context of substance abuse has been conducted using generic instruments. The Drug Users Quality of Life Scale (DUQOL) is a specific assessment tool in which the most pertinent and salient areas to drug abusers are taken into consideration. In this study, the authors report the results of a validation study in which the DUQOL was used for the first time in Australia.

Methods

A sample of 120 participants from inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities completed a series of questionnaires, including the DUQOL and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Parameters investigated in this study included the demographic characteristics of the sample, internal structure, and convergent validity. Correlations between the DUQOL scale scores and the scores of the WHOQOL-Bref test were investigated via Pearson product-moment correlation analyses.

Results

The English version of the DUQOL attained a significant overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.868. The factorial analysis of the DUQOL identified one principal factor that accounted for 28.499% of the variance. Convergent validity analyses demonstrate significant correlations (p < 0.01) between the DUQOL scores and the scores of all four dimensions of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that the DUQOL constitutes a reliable research instrument for evaluating quality of life of substance users in Australia.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Zubaran et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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