Overview
The Quality of Life Profile Adolescent version (QOLPAV) asks for ratings along a five point scale of 54 items, or aspects of life, for level of importance and level of satisfaction. An additional 9 items are rated for control and for opportunities. The 9 items are my physical health; my thoughts and feelings; my beliefs and values; the places where I spend my time; who I spend my time with; being able to use what my community has to offer; the everyday things I can do in my life; the things I can do for fun and enjoyment; and the things I can do to improve myself.
Suitability
This measure is aimed at adolescents. The initial validation of the measure targeted CYP between the ages of 14 and 18.
Psychometric Properties
| Property | Definition | QOLPAV |
|
Concurrent validity |
Correlation of the measure with others measuring the same concept |
Domains and subdomains scores were reliable, and QOL correlated with a range of other indicators of adolescent coping and adjustment. |
|
Discriminant validity |
Lack of correlation with opposite concepts |
QOL was related to health status consistent with the extensive health-related literature (33 Stewart A, Ware J. Measuring Functioning and Well-being: The Medical Outcome Study Approach. Durham: Duke University Press, 1992.). This finding suggests the instrument may be sensitive to effects of illness. The relationship with health status was especially high for the being subdomains, providing some evidence of discriminative validity among the subdomain scores. |
|
Internal consistency |
The degree to which similar items within a scale correlate with each other |
Internal consistency coefficients obtained for the overall measure and for the three broad domains were very promising, being close to, or exceeding α = .70 in every instance. |
Scoring and Interpretation
Importance and satisfaction scores can range from 1 ("Not at All Important"/"No Satisfaction at All") - 5 ("Extremely Important"/"Extremely Satisfied"). Importance scores serve as a weight for converting satisfaction scores into quality of life (QOL) scores [QOL = (Importance Score/3) ×(Satisfaction Score-3)].
The absolute meaning of score levels is an area of ongoing investigation.
Single items address the amount of control and opportunities the adolescent perceives in each of the nine subdomains. Although these measures are not part of the computation of QOL scores, they provide contextual information within which those scores can be interpreted. The questions are "how much control do I have over..." and "are there opportunities for me to improve...” the nine subdomains. Control scores can range from 1 (almost no control) - 5 (almost total control) as do opportunity scores (almost none...great many).
Terms of use
For information on copyright and permissions to make copies please see sites.utoronto.ca/qol/publications.htm
References
Raphael, D., Rukholm, E., Brown, I., Hill-Bailey, P., & Donato, E. (1996). The quality of life profile—Adolescent version: Background, description, and initial validation. Journal of Adolescent Health, 19(5), 366-375.