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An Outcomes-Based Assessment of Quality of Life in Social Services

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Abstract

The goal of this article consists of describing the calibration of an instrument to assess quality of life-related personal outcomes using Rasch analysis. The sample was composed of 3.029 recipients of social services from Catalonia (Spain) and was selected using a probabilistic polietapic sample design. Results related to unidimensionality, item and person separation reliability, calibration, items’ level of difficulty, response categories and differential item functioning by gender and type of collective are provided and point out the general fit of the data to the model. However, it is recommended to include more difficult items and eliminate one that seems not to be adequate.

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Notes

  1. GENCAT is an acronym of “Generalitat de Catalunya”; it means "Government of Catalonia" in Catalonian.

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Acknowledgments

Work on this research was partially supported by a grant (EDU/894/2009) given to the Excellence Group of Research (GR197) by the Junta de Castilla y León (Spain). It was also founded by the Catalan Welfare and Social Services Institute (ICASS, Generalitat of Catalonia) and the Science and Technology Ministry (R&D Projects, 2009) (PSI2009-10953).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INICO, University of Valladolid, Palencia, Spain

    Laura Elisabet Gomez

  2. INICO, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Benito Arias

  3. INICO, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Miguel Ángel Verdugo & Patricia Navas

Authors
  1. Laura Elisabet Gomez
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  2. Benito Arias
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  3. Miguel Ángel Verdugo
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  4. Patricia Navas
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Correspondence to Laura Elisabet Gomez.

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Gomez, L.E., Arias, B., Verdugo, M.Á. et al. An Outcomes-Based Assessment of Quality of Life in Social Services. Soc Indic Res 106, 81–93 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9794-9

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