title: Psychometric evaluation of the Quality of Life Interview, Brief Version, in injection drug users.
abstract: The authors investigated the psychometric characteristics of the Quality of Life Interview, Brief Version (QOLI-BV; A. F. Lehman, 1995) in 126 injection drug users recruited for a clinical trial. The QOLI-BV assesses global and domain-specific quality of life. Participants completed the instrument at baseline and 3 and 6 months later. Most scales showed acceptable internal consistency. Convergent and discriminant validity were demonstrated through correlations with the SF-36, the Beck Depression Inventory, and demographic variables. Scale means rose over time, suggesting that the QOLI-BV is sensitive to change. Unexpectedly, lower baseline QOLI-BV scores predicted opiate abstinence at follow-up. The QOLI-BV appears to be an acceptable quality-of-life measure for use in clinical trials of opioid dependence treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94114, USA. david.wasserman@ucsf.edu
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wasserman
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Sorensen
authors.forename: Kevin L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Delucchi
authors.forename: Carmen L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Masson
authors.forename: Sharon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires