Objective: The purpose of the study is the linguistic and psychometric validation of two generic quality of life measures for older healthy adults: the World Health Organization Quality of Life - Old (WHOQOL-Old, WHOQOL Group) and the Münchner Lebensqualitäts Dimensions Liste (MLDL, v. Steinbüchel). In European countries, life expectancy is increasing every year. Today, women can expect to live about 81 years, while men live a little less long, about 78 years. Yet, little is known so far about the life-span evolution of their quality of life (QOL), defined as the individual perception of their positions in life (level of functioning in physical, psychological, social, daily life and spiritual domains) in the context of the culture and value system in which they live, and relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. An adequate operationalization of the construct of QOL is essential for the aging population to allow cross-cultural comparisons, welfare proposals, etc. Reliable, valid and sensitive instruments allow the estimation of normal age-related changes in quality of life, as well as estimation and comparison amongst sub-groups such as e.g. men/women, married versus non-married, employed versus retired, and healthy versus unhealthy.
Design: Adaptation, linguistic and psychometric validation of two quality of life measures published for younger adults (WHOQOL-100, WHOQOL Group 1998; MLDL, v.Steinbüchel 1996) for a French speaking population of older adults.
Materials and Methods: Ten men and ten women age 74.2 (range 61-86 years), living at home, in good health or with mild somatic disorders, have been evaluated with the WHOQOL-Old and the MLDL (MMSE mean 29.2, HAD<8). Additional measures included socio-economic status, household structure, social participation and support, co-morbidity, anxiety and depression ratings (Hospital Anxiety and Depression rating Scale, Zigmond et al. 1983) and cognitive rating (Mini Mental State Examination, Folstein et al. 1975). Results: Results show good reliability for both instruments (internal consistency MLDL and WHOQOL-Old a > .70). Validity is shown by the positive correlation of both instruments. Faisability questions reveal that the items of both instruments are comprehensive (More than 90% of the subjects rate “easy” or “very easy” to understand) and relevant (more than 70% of the subjects feel concerned by the questions). More than 90% of the subjects think that both questionnaires are feasible with older adults. Less than 20% of missing data. Little differences have been found between both instruments, except for ceiling/floor effects for the WHOQOL-OLD, not present for the MLDL.
Conclusion: The WHOQOL-Old and MLDL are reliable and valid instruments to evaluate the quality of life of older adults without cognitive impairment. Further analysis is necessary to determine differences and similarities between both instruments.
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