Additional Resources

SF-36 (Ware)

  • Short name SF36
  • Most widely used tool worldwide
  • 8 domains measuring health and well being with 36 items
  • Specific domains include general health, vitality, role emotional, role physical, social well being, mental health and physical functioning
  • Two summary scales of physical composite and mental composite scores
  • Established population norms for comparison and is generic as well as disease specific.
  • Asks patients to recall how the patient is feeling over past 4 weeks
  • Can be self administered, questioned in person or by telephone interview
  • Takes 5-10 minutes to complete

Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) also the SIP-68

  • Short name SIP/SIP-68
  • Investigates a change in the behavior as a consequence of an illness
  • Covers 12 categories of daily living sleep and rest, eating, work, home management, ambulation, mobility, body care and movement, social integration, alertness behavior, emotional behavior and communication
  • 136 items/68 items
  • Items are scored on a numeric scale with higher scores reflecting greater dysfunction. An aggregate psychosocial score is derived from four categories and an aggregate physical score is derived from 3 categories
  • Measures general health
  • Paper and pencil administration takes 30-40 minutes for the full survey and 15-20 minutes for the SIP-68

Post-Liver Transplant Quality of Life (pLTQ)

  • Short name pLTQ
  • 8 domains which include: Emotional Function, Worry, Medications, Physical Function, Healthcare, Graft Rejection Concern, Financial, Pain
  • 32 items with the first 28 items scored on a scale of 1-7 and higher scores reflect better HQOL
  • Stable over time but a relatively new measurement
  • Disease Specific
  • Self administered

Liver Disease Quality of Life (LDOL)-short form

  • Short name LDQL SF
  • 9 domains and measures symptoms of liver disease and the effects of liver disease. Shown to correlate highly with SF-36 scores, symptom severity, disability, days and global health
  • Translated into several languages to include Spanish and Korean
  • Disease Specific
  • Self administered

Hepatitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (HQLQv2)

  • Short Name HQLQv2 
  • Two part survey to assess functional health and well-being of patients with chronic hepatitis C, Includes the SF-36v2® Health Survey (36 questions) and 15 additional questions which measure generic health concepts relevant to assessing the impact of hepatitis (health distress, positive well-being) and disease-specific concepts (ex Hepatitis-specific functional limitations, hepatitis-specific distress)
  • 51 items
  • Is available in a fixed form or interview (telephone/face-to-face) format. 
  • Disease Specific
  • It can be administered in clinical settings, at home or in other locations.

Liver Disease Symptom Index.0 (LDSI 2.0)

  • Short name LDSI2.0
  • Measures symptom severity and symptom hindrance in the past week
  • 18 items
  • Measures symptom severity and symptom hindrance in the past week. Considered an additive tool when researching HTQOL with the liver disease population. Responses are on a 5 point scale from “ not at all hindered “ to “ hindered a high extent “. Translated into several languages
  • Disease Specific
  • Self-administered

Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory

  • Measures that cover: General Fatigue, Physical, Fatigue, Mental Fatigue, Reduced Motivation and Reduced Anxiety
  • 20 items use a 5 point Likert scale from 1-5 (yes that is true to no that is not true). Higher scores mean less fatigue
  • Valid and reliable tool
  • Generic for fatigue
  • Self report

Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory- Short Form (MFSI-SF)

  • Short name MFSI-SF
  • Assesses global, somatic, affective, cognitive, and behavioral manifestations of fatigue
  • 30 items
  • Shorter version of the original 83 items – Multidimensional fatigue symptom inventory. Takes less time but maintains the integrity of original survey
  • Generic
  • Self report

Quality Well Being Scale

  • Combines preference-weighted values for symptoms and functioning. Symptoms are assessed by questions that ask about the presence or absence of different symptoms (yes or no). Functioning is assessed by a series of questions designed to record functional limitations over the previous three days, within 3 separate domains (mobility, physical activity and social activity). The 4 domain scores are combined into a total score that provides a numerical point-in-time expression of well-being that ranges from 0 for death to 1 for asymptomatic optimum functioning.
  • 3 pages -58 questions
  • Can be self- administered, used in a face to face interview, answered by proxy and administered online.
  • Generic
  • Self- administered ( see strengths and limitations)

Health Utilities Index (HUI)

  • Short name HUI
  • A generic multi-attribute preference based measure of health status and HRQoL
  • HU13 consists of 8 attributes/dimensions: vision, hearing, speech, ambulation, dexterity, emotion, cognition, and pain. Scores range from highly impaired to normal
  • Can be used in clinical studies, population based surveys, in the estimation of quality adjusted life years and economic analysis.
  • Generic
  • Self- administered then scored by investigator

Short Form 6D (SF-6D)

  • Short name SF-6D
  • To calculate the true value of a treatment, the scores from the SF-36v2® or the SF-12v2® Health Surveys can be converted into a utility index, called the SF-6D, which considers not only how many years a medical intervention can add to a patient’s life, but also the quality of that life. 
  • Get a better understanding of a patient’s real preference for a treatment. Helps select the best course of action for a patient. Compares 2 interventions based on Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs)and cost. Assesses the cost effectiveness of a medical product, procedure, or health and wellness program. Allocates health care resources most efficiently.
  • Generic for quality of years added. Used for the economic impact of a disease.
  • The SF form is self-administered then the investigator will convert the scores to a utility score.
  • More information on scoring

Euro-QOL (EQ-5D)

  • Short name EQ-5D
  • A standardized instrument for use as a measure of health outcome.
  • Measures 5 dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each dimension has 3 levels: no problems, some problems, extreme problems. Incorporates a visual analog scale to obtain the respondent’s self-rated health on a vertical, visual analog scale where endpoints are labeled ‘Best imaginable health sate’ and ‘Worst imaginable health state.
  • Cognitively simple, taking only a few minutes to complete. Instructions to respondents are included in the questionnaire.
  • Generic
  • Self-completion by respondents and is ideally suited for use in postal surveys, in clinics and face-to-face interviews.