Measuring patient outcomes in chronic heart failure: psychometric properties of the Care-Related Quality of Life survey for Chronic Heart Failure (CaReQoL CHF)

Abstract

BackgroundThe Care-Related Quality of Life survey for Chronic Heart Failure (CaReQoL CHF) is a newly developed patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) that measures care-related quality of life in patients diagnosed with chronic heart failure. This study describes the psychometric properties of the questionnaire and its relationship with disease severity and global rating of quality of care.MethodInsurance companies selected patients with a recorded diagnosis of chronic heart failure and for whom the hospital submitted a billing statement in the last year. Exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha and item-rest correlation were used to construct the CaReQoL CHF. Construct validity was assessed by examining the mean values of the CaReQoL CHF scales for the categories of the widely-used New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification and by correlating the global rating of quality of care with the CaReQoL CHF scales.ResultsOne thousand eighteen patients with chronic heart failure filled out the CaReQoL CHF (RR: 35.7%). The CaReQoL CHF consists of 20 items and three scales: social and emotional problems, physical limitations, and being in safe hands. The mean scores of the three scales differed significantly for the NYHA categories, particularly for the social-emotional problems and physical limitation scales. The ‘being in safe hands’ scale showed a moderate positive correlation with the global rating of quality of care.ConclusionsThe CaReQoL CHF is a concise and valid PROM that matches patients’ priorities in healthcare. It adds a new element to existing quality of life questionnaires for patients with chronic heart failure, that is ‘being in safe hands’ scale. This scale is relevant for patients because they experience anxiety and tension about their condition. Future research should determine whether the CaReQoL CHF can help healthcare providers in daily practice to focus treatment on outcomes of care that are relevant to individual patients.

The psychometric validation of the Dutch version of the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) after traumatic brain injury (TBI)

“…However, through this, the principles of cultural interpretation and translating the correct meaning of the items, might be missed out, due to which country differences might occur, even though the instrument used is very similar. [36,37].…”

“…Another limitation of this study was the limited Belgian sample, which was often too small for sound complex analyses, such as CFA. Further, the lacking of a construct validation phase making use of cognitive interviewing limits the overall conclusion on validity of the Dutch version of the RPQ [37], especially since there were between-country differences. Knowing what our respondents think we are asking, and knowing how they interpret the questions we are asking might help to explain the variety in underlying symptom structure found too [36].…”

The psychometric validation of the Dutch version of the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) after Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

“…However, through this, the principles of cultural interpretation and translating the correct meaning of the items, might be missed out, due to which country differences might occur, even though the instrument used is very similar. (31,32).…”

First real-world experience with mobile health telemonitoring in adult patients with congenital heart disease

“…Careful evaluation of the patient experienced health status, quality of life and self-management was performed using the PROM questionnaires. Three PROM questionnaires were used (EQ-5D-5L, PAM-13 and CaReQoL Chronic Heart Failure (CHF))[ 22 – 24 ]. EQ-5D-5L and CaReQoL CHF evaluate quality of life, EQ-5D-5L scores general quality of life and health status and CaReQoL CHF uses three subcategories to specify the quality of life: experienced safety, social and emotional problems and physical restrictions.…”