Positive-negative evaluation (PNE) scale: a new dimension of the subjective domains of quality of life measure.

A new subjective measure of Quality of Life (QOL), the Subjective Domains of Quality of Life Measure (SDQLM), developed by Bar-On and Amir, is a qualitative and quantitative self-structured method shown to have internal reliability and construct validity compared with quantitative pre-structured measures and evaluations by spouses and physicians. To earlier analyses on a sample of male hypertensives and normotensives, we added a content analysis which is reported here, in which the elicited QOL domains were assessed according to whether the respondent evaluated his QOL domains as positive, negative or neutral/mixed. The content analysis showed that respondents may be classified on a continuous scale from stable positive to stable negative evaluations of their QOL domains (before-after measurement). The scale was assembled by ordinal ranging of the answers at two points in time (one year apart). A respondent who evaluated his domain as positive at both such points was ranked highest on the scale, negative at both points the lowest and the two remaining possibilities constituted the middle range. Analysis of the data showed that the SDQLM with this additional content analysis correlated significantly with depression scale scores, sexual functioning, physical fitness, work satisfaction, quality of sleep, hardiness, education and age, as well as individual self-rating of QOL. The subjective measure based on self-elicited domains with PNE was shown to be an important construct compared with pre-structured measures of QOL.