The development of PROQOL-HIV: an international instrument to assess the health-related quality of life of persons living with HIV/AIDS
type: Article
item type: journalArticle
is part of: J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr
authors: Person
  surname: Duracinsky
  given name: Martin
authors: Person
  surname: Herrmann
  given name: Susan
authors: Person
  surname: Berzins
  given name: Baiba
authors: Person
  surname: Armstrong
  given name: Andrew R.
authors: Person
  surname: Kohli
  given name: Rewa
authors: Person
  surname: Le Cœur
  given name: Sophie
authors: Person
  surname: Diouf
  given name: Assane
authors: Person
  surname: Fournier
  given name: Isabelle
authors: Person
  surname: Schechter
  given name: Mauro
authors: Person
  surname: Chassany
  given name: Olivier
subject: Activities of Daily Living
subject: Adult
subject: Female
subject: HIV Infections/ psychology
subject: Health Status
subject: Humans
subject: Male
subject: Middle Aged
subject: Pilot Projects
subject: Psychometrics
subject: Quality of Life
subject: Questionnaires
subject: Reproducibility of Results
subject: Severity of Illness Index
abstract: OBJECTIVES: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important outcome in HIV/AIDS infection and treatment. However, most existing HIV-HRQL instruments miss important issues (eg, sleeping problems, lipodystrophy). They were developed before highly active antiretroviral therapy (pre-HAART), and in a single language. We sought to develop a contemporary HIV-HRQL instrument (PROQOL-HIV) in multiple languages that accounts for HAART treatment and side effects. This article details the 3-stage content validation phase of PROQOL-HIV. METHODS: In stage 1, we developed a conceptual model of HIV-HRQL and questionnaire item bank from thematic analysis of 152 patient interviews conducted simultaneously across 9 countries. In stage 2, pilot items were selected by an expert panel to form the pilot instrument. Stage 3 involved linguistic validation and harmonization of selected items to form an equivalent instrument in 9 target languages. RESULTS: Analysis of 3375 pages of interview text revealed 11 underlying themes: general health perception, social relationships, emotions, energy/fatigue, sleep, cognitive functioning, physical and daily activity, coping, future, symptoms, and treatment. Seven issues new to HIV-HRQL measurement were subsumed by these themes: infection fears, future concerns, satisfaction with care, self-esteem problems, sleep problems, work disruption, and treatment issues. Of the 442 theme-related items banked, 70 items met the retention criteria and formed the pilot PROQOL-HIV instrument. CONCLUSIONS: HIV patients across 11 countries attributed a wide range of physical, mental, and social issues to their condition, many of which were not measured by existing HIV-HRQL instruments. The pilot PROQOL-HIV instrument captures these issues, is sensitive to sociocultural context, disease stage, and HAART.
date: 2012
pages: 498-505
short title: The development of PROQOL-HIV: an international instrument to assess the health-related quality of life of persons living with HIV/AIDS
description: 5

J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr
type: Journal
volume: 59
identifier: DOI 10.1097/QAI.0b013e318245cafe
identifier: ISSN 1944-7884 (Electronic) 1525-4135 (Linking)