Assessing the quality of life of household members of patients with inflammatory bowel disease: development and validation of a specific questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
Household members of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are impacted in their daily lives by close interaction with chronic illness. However, the effect of IBD on the quality of life of household members has not been evaluated because appropriate instruments to measure it are lacking. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a specific instrument to measure the quality of life of household members of patients with IBD.


METHODS
Household members were interviewed to generate an initial pool of items. A group of investigators excluded redundant and incomprehensible items, and the resulting preliminary questionnaire was completed by 81 subjects. Further item reduction was performed using the psychometric method. The psychometric properties of the final questionnaire were determined in a group of 106 subjects.


RESULTS
Of the initial 67 items, 19 were excluded by investigators. The remaining 48 items were answered by 81 household members, and 32 items were excluded by factor analysis. Two others were excluded because of poor comprehension. The definitive questionnaire consisted of 14 items.


CONCLUSIONS
We have developed and validated a questionnaire to measure the quality of life of household members of IBD patients. It will greatly enhance the possibilities of quantifying the effects of IBD on home life and should become a useful tool in health care planning.
Vergara
M
M
Digestive System Research Unit, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.
Casellas
F
F
Badia
X
X
Malagelada
J R
JR
D000328:Adult; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires