[Quality of life and occupational dermatoses--development and evaluation of a questionnaire assessing quality of life with in patients with occupational dermatoses (LIOD--Life Quality Index Occupational Dermatoses)].
BACKGROUND
Quality of life (QOL) is an established parameter in dermatology; it is known that skin diseases can affect QOL adversely. There are no specific questionnaires that consider the consider the effect of occupational factors as triggers for work-related diseases, even though such a questionnaire could link QOL specifically with the work situation.


METHODS
Based on a literature search and the analysis of existing study instruments, a questionnaire reflecting "Life Quality Index Occupational Dermatoses (LIOD)" was developed and studied in four different groups of persons (N = 228) with and without dermatological diseases.


RESULTS
Using the "Guidelines for QOL-assessment in dermatological studies", a test comparing LIOD to established instruments showed a reliability quotient of 0.804. Cronsbach's alpha was 0.898. The logical and discriminate validity were tested and found to be significant. Hypotheses that had been devised while developing the test were confirmed.


CONCLUSIONS
The validated LIOD questionnaire is a valuable addition to existing instruments in dermatology. LIOD may be used to gain data reflecting the efficacy of therapeutic strategies comparable to medical data.
Batzdorfer
Ludger
L
Universität Osnabrück, Fachbereich Humanwissenschaften. Ludger.Batzdorfer@t-online.de
Klippel
Ulrike
U
Sörensen
Tanja
T
Schwanitz
Hans Joachim
HJ
D003625:Data Collection; D009783:Dermatitis, Occupational / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012871:Skin Diseases; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires