Measuring the Quality of Life of Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Swedish Version of the Quality of Life Scale (QOLS)

Abstract

The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS) was translated into Swedish and reliability and validity was studied. The Swedish version (QOLS-S) was given to 100 women with rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus along with the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales and a visual analog pain scale. Disease activity was also measured using the Ritchie Articular Index and a patient version of the Systemic Lupus Activity Measure. Results indicated that the QOLS-S had high test-retest reliability (r = .84 for a 4-week interval) and internal consistency reliability (alpha = .82 at Time 1 and .88 at Time 2). An hypothesis that the QOLS-S would have low to moderate correlations with measures of health status and disease activity was supported. We conclude that the QOLS-S is a reliable and valid measure of quality of life in Swedish women with RA and SLE and that it provides a measure of quality of life that is distinct from health status and disease activity.

Quality-of-Life Measurements Versus Disease Activity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

“…Fortin et al [47] found no correlation of disease activity with the SF-36 mental domains. In contrast, two other studies found that HRQoL was related to disease activity [51,95]. These studies are summarized in Table 4.…”

Global quality of life in primary caregivers of patients with cancer in palliative phase staying at home

“…The QOLS has been used in several international studies of different diseases and conditions [3,4,6,22,23,33]. The QOLS contains 16 items covering the person's satisfaction with different aspects of life, such as physical and material wellbeing, personal development, relationships with others, participation in social, community and civic activities, and recreation.…”

Impact of the interaction between self-efficacy, symptoms and catastrophising on disability, quality of life and health in with chronic pain patients

“…A higher total score shows higher satisfaction. The item scores are added to a total score, ranging from 16 to 112 [29,30].…”