ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Despite the importance of health-related quality of life (HRQL) as an outcome measure in chronic heart failure (CHF), instruments currently available have been developed by clinicians or researchers; none have been derived from the patient's perspective. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a patient-derived, disease-specific HRQL measure. METHODS: The psychometric testing of the Chronic Heart Failure Assessment Tool (CHAT) followed 2 phases: testing the psychometric properties (n = 223) of the 51-item version of the CHAT in a postal survey and validation of the CHAT (n = 68) using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey and the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure questionnaire. RESULTS: The CHAT contains questions measuring 7 themes of HRQL: physical ability, emotional state, self-perception, relationships, coping with symptoms, maintaining social/lifestyle status, and cognitive aspects in respect to CHF. Factor analysis was used to analyze these themes. Four domains emerged: symptoms, activity levels, psychosocial aspects, and emotions. CONCLUSION: The CHAT comprises dimensions of HRQL identified by patients in the study population that may more appropriately reflect the concerns of patients. Further work is recommended to develop this tool for use as an HRQL measure in a CHF population.
Subject(s)
Attitude to Health , Heart Failure/psychology , Nursing Assessment/methods , Patient-Centered Care , Quality of Life/psychology , Surveys and Questionnaires/standards , Activities of Daily Living/psychology , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Emotions , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Health Status Indicators , Heart Failure/nursing , Humans , Life Style , Male , Middle Aged , Nursing Assessment/standards , Nursing Evaluation Research , Psychometrics , Self Concept , Severity of Illness Index , Statistics, Nonparametric , United KingdomABSTRACT
The modern management of chronic heart failure has led to improved life expectancy, functioning and health-related quality of life (HRQL). HRQL measures the effects of an illness or a treatment from the patient's perspective. It is now recognised that the patient's perspective is as legitimate and valid as the clinician's in monitoring health care outcomes. Although there are a number of quality-of-life measures, which can be separated into two types-generic and disease specific-many have been developed, with little or no account being taken of the patient's perspective. Because most of the widely used measures are not patient centred, they may lack sensitivity and specificity in determining those aspects of HRQL important to individual patients. This paper reviews the use of quality-of-life assessment tools in the evaluation of patients with heart failure.