Folker Henrik, Folker Anna Paldam
Ugeskr Laeger. 2008 Mar 3;170(10):830-4.
WHO-5 is a questionnaire for self-administration developed to evaluate well-being and quality of life. It is documented that a score of <50 is often related to a depressive state. In this investigation it is used to evaluate the general quality of life and changes here of during treatment of patients from all diagnostic groups of psychiatry.
The questionnaire was administered at admission and discharge to 377 patients in psychiatric wards. Another questionnaire MDI (major depression inventory) was used as a supplement.
By using the WHO-5 questionnaire in the psychosis group a progress in quality of life from 32 to 58 was obtained. In the affective group the progress was from 20 to 52. The method had a high sensitivity in its ability to discover the patients who were given a discharge diagnosis of depression. Specificity was lower. WHO-5 could be used to measure the effect of treatment with different psychopharmacological treatments.
WHO-5 can be used as a general measure of well-being and quality of life and it is demonstrated how different treatments can be evaluated. According to a philosophical analysis of the concept of quality of life, WHO-5 mainly covers the hedonistic aspects. The WHO-5 questionnaire is quite simple and most patients understand the concept immediately. It takes only a few minutes to answer the questionnaire.
