title: The reliability and construct validity of the RAQoL: a rheumatoid arthritis-specific quality of life instrument.
abstract: The present study was designed to test the psychometric properties of the RAQoL, a rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-specific quality of life (QoL) instrument. All stages of the development were conducted simultaneously in The Netherlands and the UK. The content of the draft measure was derived from qualitative interviews with RA patients in both countries. The final version of the RAQoL has 30 items with a 'yes'/'no' response format and takes approximately 6 min to complete. Both language versions have high internal consistency and test-retest reliability (> 0.9), and good sensitivity to discriminate between groups with various disease activity and severity. Given the excellent psychometric properties of the new instrument, it will prove to be a valuable tool for assessing quality of life in clinical trials and for monitoring patients in routine clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van der Heijde
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: McKenna
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Whalley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom