AlQoL 9 for measuring quality of life in alcohol dependence.
OBJECTIVE
Quality of life (QoL) is an important factor of outcome tracking and treatment in alcohol misuse. A 9-item QoL scale, AlQoL 9, obtained from the generic SF 36, is proposed as a measure that characterizes the QoL of alcohol-dependent patients. Our objective was to study the psychometric properties of this subscale.


METHODS
AlQoL 9 was evaluated in two study groups of patients with DSM-IV diagnosis of dependence: 104 inpatients, and 114 outpatients. Severity of dependence, alcohol consumption, psychiatric, and somatic comorbidities were assessed. We studied the global properties of AlQoL 9 and its structure.


RESULTS
Cronbach alpha-coefficients in both populations indicated good internal consistency (0.71 and 0.85). Test-retest intraclass coefficients for a 2-day interval in hospital were in the range 0.57-0.78. Principal component analysis found a unidimensional scale. This subscale has properties that are consistent with the concept of QoL in alcohol dependence, i.e. lowered QoL compared with the general population, influenced by gender, and depression.


CONCLUSIONS
AlQoL 9 epitomizes QoL in alcohol-dependence. It gives a global measurement with good psychometric properties. It could be used in clinical practice as a diagnosis and management support instrument and may also be useful in research for evaluating treatment efficacy.
Malet
Laurent
L
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Department of Psychiatry-B, rue Montalembert BP 69, 63003 Clermont-Ferrand cedex 1, France. lmalet@chu-clermontferrand.fr
Llorca
Pierre-Michel
PM
Beringuier
Bérénice
B
Lehert
Philippe
P
Falissard
Bruno
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome