Quality of life of persons with urinary incontinence: development of a new measure.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to develop a self-report quality of life measure specific to urinary incontinence (I-QOL) that could be used as an outcome measure in clinical trials and in patient care centers.


METHODS
The I-QOL was developed from interviews of 20 individuals with urinary incontinence. Refining the questionnaire was accomplished by structured interviews of 17 individuals with urinary incontinence. Testing the I-QOL's psychometric properties involved two administrations (n = 62) along with measures of psychologic well-being and functional status.


RESULTS
The rigorous development process ensured that the measure was complete and understandable. The I-QOL proved to be internally consistent (alpha 0.95) and highly reproducible (r = 0.93; 18 days; SD 4). For discriminant validity, severity of incontinence (P < 0.0001) and number of medical appointments in the past year to treat incontinence (P < 0.0001) significantly predicted I-QOL scores. Convergent validity analyses confirmed our predictions that the I-QOL scores were more closely related to overall well-being than bodily pain.


CONCLUSIONS
The I-QOL proved to be valid and reproducible as a self-administered measure for assessing quality of life of patients with urinary incontinence.
Wagner
T H
TH
Cost and Outcomes Assessment Team, Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle 98103, USA.
Patrick
D L
DL
Bavendam
T G
TG
Martin
M L
ML
Buesching
D P
DP
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*