[Applicability of the abbreviated version of the World Health Organization's quality of life questionnaire in Hungary].

INTRODUCTION

Quality of life, as a subjective parameter of the general condition, is suitable for characterization of the health status of populations or patient groups, and for studying the effects of therapeutic or preventive interventions.

AIMS

To test the applicability and reliability in Hungary of the abbreviated form of the quality of life questionnaire developed by WHO, one of several ways to measure the quality of life.

METHODS

Questionnaire-based cross-sectional investigation was performed among altogether 814 persons, in small settlements of population under 1000 and 2000, and in a small town for control, in Csongrád county, Hungary. The reliability and validity of the quality of life questionnaire was tested, within each group of questions, by means of Cronbach's alpha, ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and by Spearman's rho correlation coefficient.

RESULTS

The mean values of the four domains of quality of life - physical, psychological, social and environmental - showed no noteworthy differences. The Cronbach's alpha figures of the internal consistency test on separate groups of questions and on all questions were in all cases above the expected minimum of 0.7. The means calculated for each domain of quality of life were decreasing with increasing age. Healthy people estimated each aspect of quality of life as significantly better, compared to the sick. Correlation tests showed that all dimensions of the quality of life were in close positive correlation with the general quality of life, with the level of satisfaction with the own health, with the self-assessed health, and with the responses given on other questions related to the social or health situation of the questioned.

CONCLUSION

The variation of the questionnaire, adapted to Hungarian conditions, proved to be suitable for testing the quality of life of persons with various demographical, social and health conditions, and for distinction between the healthy and the sick. The sheet, which can be filled in quickly and easily, enables the measurement of quality of life in the Hungarian population, and the comparison of that with international data.