Construction of the descriptive system for the assessment of quality of life AQoL-6D utility instrument

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

Research

Stuart J Peacock¹  Angelo Iezzi²  Jeffrey RJ Richardson³  Neil A Day⁴  Graeme Hawthorne⁵  Gerald Elsworth⁶ 

[1] Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC), BC Cancer Research Centre, 675 West 10th Avenue, BC V5Z 1L3, Vancouver, Canada;School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, West Mall, 2329V6T 1Z4, Vancouver, BC, Canada;Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Wellington Road, 3800, Clayton, VIC, Australia;Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Wellington Road, 3800, Clayton, VIC, Australia;Prof Jeff Richardson, Foundation Director, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Wellington Road, 3800, Clayton, VIC, Australia;Centre for Program Evaluation, University of Melbourne, 100 Leicester Street, 3052, Parkville, VIC, Australia;Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Level 1 North Main Block, Royal Melbourne Hospital, 3050, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;Public Health Innovation, Deakin Population Health Strategic Research Centre, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, 3125, Burwood, VIC, Australia;

关键词: Quality of Life;    MAU instrument;    HRQoL;    Economic evaluation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1477-7525-10-38

 received in 2011-09-27, accepted in 2012-04-17,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMulti attribute utility (MAU) instruments are used to include the health related quality of life (HRQoL) in economic evaluations of health programs. Comparative studies suggest different MAU instruments measure related but different constructs. The objective of this paper is to describe the methods employed to achieve content validity in the descriptive system of the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)-6D, MAU instrument.MethodsThe AQoL program introduced the use of psychometric methods in the construction of health related MAU instruments. To develop the AQoL-6D we selected 112 items from previous research, focus groups and expert judgment and administered them to 316 members of the public and 302 hospital patients. The search for content validity across a broad spectrum of health states required both formative and reflective modelling. We employed Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to meet these dual requirements.Results and DiscussionThe resulting instrument employs 20 items in a multi-tier descriptive system. Latent dimension variables achieve sensitive descriptions of 6 dimensions which, in turn, combine to form a single latent QoL variable. Diagnostic statistics from the SEM analysis are exceptionally good and confirm the hypothesised structure of the model.ConclusionsThe AQoL-6D descriptive system has good psychometric properties. They imply that the instrument has achieved construct validity and provides a sensitive description of HRQoL. This means that it may be used with confidence for measuring health related quality of life and that it is a suitable basis for modelling utilities for inclusion in the economic evaluation of health programs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Richardson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012