Development of a novel scale to assess life fulfillment as part of the further refinement of a quality-of-life model for epilepsy.

We have been involved in developing a health-related quality-of-life model for use as an outcome measure in epilepsy. As part of the further development of this model, we have developed a measure of life fulfillment. This scale is based on methods previously described by Krupinski in 1980. The value of Krupinski's approach is the opportunity for patients to weight the numerous aspects of their quality of life and assess the discrepancy between their actual and desired circumstances. The life fulfillment scale has been shown to be reliable (alpha = 0.7) and valid. The scale is currently being applied to several clinical studies in epilepsy. We believe that the scale provides a valuable contribution to our health-related quality-of-life model.