Validation of a quality of life questionnaire for critically ill patients

Objective: Development and validation of quality of life questionnaire for critical care patients. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Intensive care unit (ICU) of a general hospital and ICUs of 83 Spanish hospitals, Sample: Patients admitted to the TCU > 18 gears of age; close family members. Method: A committee of experts designed a questionnaire with characteristics judged essential far intensive care use: easy, quick administration (5 - 10 min); capable of completion by patient or close family member, by direct or telephone interview. Fifteen items relevant to critical care patients were grouped in three subscales: basic physiological activities, normal daily activities, and emotional stale. Reproducibility of interobserver, intraobserver, patient/family member and telephone/direct interviews was analysed and also internal consistency, responsiveness, and main components. Results: Internal consistency (578 patients): Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.85. Reproducibility: intraobserver reproducibility (n = 150): Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.92. Interobserver (n = 85): correlation = 0.92, Patient/family member (n = 81): correlation = 0.92. Telephone/direct interview (n = 54): correlation = 0.96. Validity: factorial analysis confirmed that Che three subscales were fundamental questionnaire components. There was good concordance between questionnaire/subscale and Glasgow Out; come Scale (GOS) results, Responsiveness: quality of life score changes between preadmission and 6 months' postdischarge correlated with GOS findings (weighted kappa index = 0.56). Conclusions: Questionnaire meets objectives recommended for critical care use, and fulfills essential requirements of validity and reproducibility when applied to critically ill patients.