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QUALITY OF LIFE SCALE Carol Burckhardt PhD This version of the Quality of life Scale (QOLS) has 16 items rather than the 15 found in the original Flanagan version. Item #16, “independence, doing for yourself” was added after a qualitative study indicated that the instrument had content validity in chronic illness groups but that it needed an item that reflected the importance to these people of remaining independent and able to care for themselves. The instrument is scored by summing the items to make a total score. Subjects should be encouraged to fill out every item even if they are not currently engaged in it. (e.g. they can be satisfied even if they do not currently participate in organizations; or they can be satisfied about not having children.) Missing data can be treated by entering the mean score for an item. If you wish to compare scores in your groups with any scores that have been published, please be aware that early Burckhardt references used the 15 item scale. More recent publications use the 16 item scale. A higher score indicates better quality of life. References Burckhardt CS, Wood SL, Schultz AA, Ziebarth DM (1989). Quality of life of adults with chronic illness: A psychometric study. Research in Nursing and Health, 12, 347-354. Burckhardt CS, Clark SR, Bennett RM (1993). Fibromyalgia and quality of life: A comparative analysis. Journal of Rheumatology, 20, 475-479. Burckhardt CS & Anderson KL (2003). The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS): Reliability, Validity and Utilization. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 1:60 (23 October 2003). Burckhardt CS, Anderson KL Archenholtz B, Hägg O (2003). The Flanagan Quality of Life Scale (QOLS): Further evidence of validity. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 1:59 (23 October 2003).
Flanagan JC (1978). A research approach to
improving our quality of life. American Psychologist, 33, Flanagan JC (1982). Measurement of quality of life: Current state of the art. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 63, 56-59.
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