Field Testing the WHOQOL-100 in Canada

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to test the WHOQOL-100, an instrument for assessing quality of life (QOL), developed to facilitate cross-cultural comparison. The instrument was tested with a convenience sample of 144 people. The mean age of participants was 58 years and 41% were female. Test-retest reliability was .86 for the physical domain, .78 for the psychological domain, .91 for independence, .87 for social relationships, .77 for environment, and .60 for spirituality. Consistency reliability was .77 for physical, .79 for psychological, .89 for independence, .71 for social relationships, .80 for environment, and .89 for spirituality/personal beliefs. Correlations of the various domains with other instruments, including the SF-36, the Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, and the Visual Analogue Scale for Pain, supported the convergent validity of the instrument. The instrument was able to discriminate between healthy and ill populations, providing support for construct validity.