Which measure of quality of life performs best in older age? A comparison of the OPQOL, CASP-19 and WHOQOL-OLD

• Published in: Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979) Vol. 65; no. 3; pp. 273 - 280
• Main Authors: Bowling, Ann, Stenner, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01-03-2011; BMJ Publishing Group; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Group
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living - psychology; Age Factors; Aged - psychology; ageing; ageing RB; Biological and medical sciences; Community health; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data processing; Ethnic Groups - psychology; Ethnic Groups - statistics & numerical data; Female; Financing, Personal; Focus groups; Follow-Up Studies; General aspects; Geriatric Assessment; Health Status; Humans; Intergenerational Relations; Interviews as Topic; Leisure Activities - psychology; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Marital Status - ethnology; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Modeling; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Multivariate Analysis; Neighborhoods; old age; Older adults; Older people; P values; Polls & surveys; Psychometrics; Psychometrics - methods; Psychometrics - standards; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Qualitative research; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Research Report; Research reports; Residence Characteristics - classification; Response rates; Self-Assessment; Sex Distribution; Social psychology; Social Support; Studies; surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Surveys and Questionnaires - utilization; United Kingdom; Validity; United Kingdom > UK; Human; Medicine; Elderly; Age; Comparative study; Public health; Quality of life
• ISSN: 0143-005X; 1470-2738
• DOI: 10.1136/jech.2009.087668

BackgroundMost measures of quality of life (QoL) are based on ‘expert’ opinions. This study describes a new measure of QoL in older age, the Older People's QoL Questionnaire (OPQOL), which is unique in being derived from the views of lay people, cross-checked against theoretical models for assessment of comprehensiveness. Its performance was assessed cross-sectionally and longitudinally. It was compared with two existing QoL measures in the cross-sectional studies in order to identify the optimal measure for use with older populations.MethodsData were taken from three surveys of older people living at home in Britain in 2007–2008: one population survey of people aged 65+, one focused enumeration survey of ethnically diverse older people aged 65+, one follow-up of a population survey of people aged 65+ at baseline in 1999/2000. Measures were QoL (using OPQOL, Control, Autonomy, Satisfaction, Pleasure - 19 items (CASP-19), World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire - version for older people (WHOQOL-OLD)), health, social and socioeconomic circumstances. The CASP-19 and WHOQOL-OLD were not administered to the longitudinal sample in order to reduce respondent burden.ResultsPsychometric tests were applied to each QoL measure. The OPQOL, CASP-19 and WHOQOL-OLD performed well with the cross-sectional samples; however, only the OPQOL met criteria for internal consistency in the Ethnibus samples.ConclusionThe OPQOL is of potential value in the outcome assessment of health and social interventions, which can have a multidimensional impact on people's lives. Further research is needed to examine whether differences by ethnicity reflect real differences in QoL, methodological issues, variations in expectations or cultural differences in reporting.