title: The Life Functioning Questionnaire (LFQ): a brief, gender-neutral scale assessing functional outcome.
abstract: The Life Functioning Questionnaire (LFQ) is a 5-min, 14-item, gender-neutral self-report questionnaire designed to assess role function over the preceding month in four domains: workplace, duties at home, leisure time with family and leisure time with friends. To validate the LFQ for use as an instrument assessing functional outcome in patients with a mood disorder, the LFQ was administered to three different samples of patients (N=87). Fifty-nine concurrently completed the self-report version of the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS-SR) and 32 concurrently had a Clinical Global Impression Scale for Bipolar Disorder (CGI-BP) assessment. The LFQ proved to have high internal consistency reliability, high test-retest reliability, excellent concurrent validity with the SAS-SR, and high validity as a measurement of severity of illness when compared with the CGI-BP. The LFQ provides a reliable, consistent and valid assessment of function at work and home in both male and female patients with a mood disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, 300 UCLA Medical Plaza, Mood Disorders Research Program, Los Angeles 90095, USA. Laltshuler@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Altshuler
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mintz
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leight
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012380:Role; D012917:Social Adjustment