Chest
Volume 123, Issue 1, January 2003, Pages 42-48
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Clinical Investigations
Cystic Fibrosis
Questions on Life Satisfaction for Adolescents and Adults With Cystic Fibrosis: Development of a Disease-Specific Questionnaire

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.123.1.42Get rights and content

Study objectives

The development and psychometric properties of an additional disease-specific module of the Questions on Life Satisfaction for adolescents and adults with cystic fibrosis (FLZM-CF) are described. The Questions on Life Satisfaction (FLZM) instrument allows the respondent to rate the subjective importance and her/his satisfaction with different domains of life.

Methods

A preliminary 16-item version of the scale was employed in a study with 243 German patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) [16 to 58 years of age; FEV1, 15 to 121% of predicted], together with the “general life satisfaction” module and the “satisfaction with health” module of the FLZM. Item elimination according to the principle of least common variance resulted in the final nine-item version.

Results

Cronbach α for the FLZM-CF was 0.80; the split-half reliability was 0.72. Convergent validity of the scale was indicated by Pearson correlations of r = 0.75 with the generic satisfaction with health scale of the FLZM, r = 0.30 with FEV1%, and r = − 0.26 with daily time for home therapy. The scale discriminated significantly between patients with and without need for assistance in daily life and between patients with and without a partner.

Conclusions

The FLZM-CF is a reliable and valid instrument, and it is short enough to be used as screening instrument. The combination of generic and disease-specific scales within the FLZM allows comprehensive measurement of life satisfaction for patients with CF who are > 15 years old.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

The development of the FLZM-CF was an iterative process. After item generation, a preliminary version of the scale was tested. Some items were reworded to improve intelligibility, and the scale was reduced to a 16-item version. Then this version was tested in a study with 243 adolescents and adults with CF. The final 9-item version is the result of further item reduction and psychometric testing of the 16-item version. The development of the questionnaire was done in German, the final version

Results

The number of missing data were far below 1%, indicating good practicability and intelligibility of the questionnaire. The distribution of the weighted scores of the 16-item version indicated no relevant floor or ceiling effects. Therefore, none of the original items had to be excluded from the scale. Furthermore, item intercorrelations between the weighted scores of the FLZM-CF and the weighted scores of the generic FLZM scales were analyzed. One item (present course of the disease) was

Discussion

As a combination of generic and disease-specific modules, the FLZM allow a multidimensional assessment of a patient's satisfaction with various domains of life in relation to their subjective importance. Eight domains of general life satisfaction, eight domains of general health-related satisfaction, and nine domains of CF-related life satisfaction can be integrated into a comprehensive profile of life satisfaction. The new disease-specific scale covers a broad range of physical and

Conclusion

In summary, the results of this study indicate good practicability, reliability and construct validity of the method, although further external validation is needed. In combination with the generic modules of the FLZM, the FLZM-CF is a comprehensive and brief instrument for evaluating patients' subjective perspectives on their lives. Software for the computer-assisted assessment with the FLZM is also available. This modification of the method increases the economy and practicability of QL

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