AQoLS-Brief: Development and psychometric properties of a short version of the alcohol quality of life scale.

BACKGROUND

Short versions of health-related quality of life measures are essential for the development of preference-based measures used to obtain the quality-adjustment weights needed to calculate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in health economic evaluations. Using data from the randomized TRAIN study, which compared the efficacy of two cognitive training programs in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) recently detoxified at five centers in France from 2019 to 2023 (n=227), we report the development and psychometrics of the AQoLS-Brief, a short version of the initial 34-item Alcohol Quality of Life Scale (AQoLS).

METHODS

Baseline data on, age, sex, AUD severity, drinking characteristics and consequences of alcohol including the AQoLS were collected. One item per dimension of the AQoLS was chosen following predefined rules. Construct validity of the AQoLS-brief was documented: internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and external validity was assessed with external drinking and non-drinking variables via univariate analyses, a confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) and a multivariate linear regression.

RESULTS

The 7-item AQoLS-Brief demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha= 0.80) and very high correlation with the long version AQoLS (rho=0.95). The CFA confirmed the unidimensionality of the AQoLS-Brief. Severity of AUD, as measured by the number of DSM-5 alcohol criteria and the number of heavy drinking days, and the dimension Sadness of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales were the heaviest contributors to the AQoLS-Brief score.

CONCLUSIONS

The AQoLS-Brief is a short version of the AQoLS with good psychometrics, enhancing its use in clinical practice and research, and representing a significant step toward establishing a relevant and specific preference-based measures for calculating QALYs in AUD populations.