title: Developing a measure of medication-related quality of life for people with polypharmacy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a measure of medication-related quality of life (MRQoL) and to validate the measure in a hospital-based population of patients with polypharmacy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Medication-Related Quality of Life Scale version 1.0 (MRQoLS-v1.0) included 14 items developed on the basis of interviews with elderly patients with polypharmacy, defined as taking five or more medications simultaneously. This scale was tested in 219 outpatients (99 with polypharmacy and 120 without polypharmacy). Two measures were used to establish construct validity the Psychological Distress Checklist, for convergent validity, and the Medication Adherence Behavior Scale (MABS), for discriminant validity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 14-item scale was found to be both reliable and valid. Internal consistency reliability evaluated using Cronbach's alpha for this scale was 0.91. Scores on the MRQoLS-v1.0 correlated statistically significantly and negatively with those on the Psychological Distress Checklist. Discriminant validity was demonstrated by low correlation with MABS, indicating that the MRQoLS-v1.0 measured concepts different from medication adherence. Significant differences in the MRQoLS-v1.0 between patients with polypharmacy and those without polypharmacy provided evidence for known-group validity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study presents a psychometric evaluation of a measure used to assess MRQoL of patients with polypharmacy. The instrument is practical to administer in clinics and provides a valuable adjunct to the outcome measurement for patients with polypharmacy. Further research on the sensitivity of this instrument to medication change in multi-medicated patients is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Management, College of Management, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsu-Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Administration, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Hui
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yin-Jen
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Division of Critical Care Nephrology, Department of Nephrology, Kidney Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.|Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiang-Hao
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Center for Quality Management, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Yueh
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy, Asthma and Rheumatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 5, Fu-Hsin Street, Kueishan, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. long@adm.cgmh.org.tw.|Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. long@adm.cgmh.org.tw.
authors.forename: Jing-Long
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010045:Outpatients; D019338:Polypharmacy; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016903:Drug Monitoring
keywords: Medication; Polypharmacy; Quality of life measure; Subjective well-being