title: Quality of life of persons with urinary incontinence: development of a new measure.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Cost and Outcomes Assessment Team, Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle 98103, USA.
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Bavendam
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Buesching
mesh_terms: 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*