Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
Qual Life Res. 2010 Feb;19(1):111-23. doi: 10.1007/s11136-009-9570-3. Epub 2010 Jan 3.
Role functioning is an important part of health-related quality of life. However, assessment of role functioning is complicated by the wide definition of roles and by fluctuations in role participation across the life-span. The aim of this study is to explore variations in role functioning across the lifespan using qualitative approaches, to inform the development of a role functioning item bank and to pilot test sample items from the bank.
Eight focus groups were conducted with a convenience sample of 38 English-speaking adults recruited in Rhode Island. Participants were stratified by gender and four age groups. Focus groups were taped, transcribed, and analyzed for thematic content.
Participants of all ages identified family roles as the most important. There was age variation in the importance of social life roles, with younger and older adults rating them as more important. Occupational roles were identified as important by younger and middle-aged participants. The potential of health problems to affect role participation was recognized. Participants found the sample items easy to understand, response options identical in meaning and preferred five response choices.
Participants identified key aspects of role functioning and provided insights on their perception of the impact of health on their role participation. These results will inform item bank generation.
角色功能是健康相关生活质量的一个重要组成部分。然而，由于角色的广泛定义以及角色参与度在整个生命周期中的波动，角色功能的评估变得复杂。本研究的目的是使用定性方法探索整个生命周期中角色功能的变化，为角色功能项目库的开发提供信息，并对来自该库的样本项目进行试点测试。
在罗德岛州，对 38 名英语为母语的成年人进行了 8 次便利样本的焦点小组。参与者按性别和四个年龄组分层。对焦点小组进行录音、转录，并进行主题内容分析。
所有年龄段的参与者都将家庭角色视为最重要的角色。社会生活角色的重要性存在年龄差异，年轻和年长的成年人认为这些角色更重要。职业角色被年轻和中年参与者视为重要的角色。参与者认识到健康问题可能会影响角色参与。他们发现这些样本项目易于理解，选项的含义相同，并更喜欢五种回答选择。
参与者确定了角色功能的关键方面，并就健康对其角色参与的影响提出了看法。这些结果将为项目库的生成提供信息。
