Interdisciplinary Center for Palliative Medicine, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Munich, Germany.
Psychooncology. 2012 Oct;21(10):1034-52. doi: 10.1002/pon.2113. Epub 2012 Jan 10.
The construct of "meaning in life" (MiL) has raised the interest of clinicians working in psycho-oncology and end-of-life care. It has become a topic of scientific investigation where diverse assessment approaches have been applied.
We present a comprehensive systematic review of existing MiL assessment instruments.
Electronic searches of articles published in English peer-reviewed journals were performed in Psycinfo, Medline, Embase and Cinahl. Instruments are appraised with regard to ten measurement properties.
In total, 59 nomothetic and idiographic MiL instruments were identified. Most instruments were developed in North America and meet basic psychometric criteria. They assess presence of and search for MiL, crisis and sources of MiL, meaning making, meaningful activity, MiL in the context of illness, breadth, depth, and other structural indicators. These aspects are largely consistent with existing MiL definitions. Nine out of 59 instruments included cancer populations in test development.
This overview of available instruments underscores the complexity of the construct and might assist researchers to select an appropriate instrument for their research needs. Finally, it points to the need for more integrative theorizing and research on MiL.
“生命意义”（MiL）的构建引起了从事心理肿瘤学和临终关怀的临床医生的兴趣。它已成为科学研究的主题，应用了多种评估方法。
我们对现有的 MiL 评估工具进行了全面的系统评价。
在 Psycinfo、Medline、Embase 和 Cinahl 中进行了发表在英文同行评议期刊上的文章的电子检索。根据十个测量特性对仪器进行评估。
共确定了 59 种同型和特型 MiL 仪器。大多数仪器都是在北美开发的，符合基本的心理测量学标准。它们评估生命意义的存在和寻找、危机和生命意义的来源、意义建构、有意义的活动、疾病背景下的生命意义、广度、深度和其他结构指标。这些方面与现有的 MiL 定义基本一致。在 59 种仪器中，有 9 种在测试开发中包括了癌症患者。
对现有仪器的概述突出了该结构的复杂性，并可能有助于研究人员根据其研究需求选择合适的仪器。最后，它指出需要对 MiL 进行更多的综合理论和研究。
