OBJECTIVE: Quality of life (QOL) is an outcome variable requiring measurement in clinical care or pivotal regulatory trial research. Current menopause QOL measures are mostly life phase or disease symptom inventories or scores. Believing that QOL should refer more to "sense of well-being," we have developed the Utian QOL scale (UQOL) that is strongly based on perception of sense of well-being as distinct from menopausal symptoms. DESIGN: A pool of items sampling various aspects of well-being was developed. Peri- and postmenopausal women (n = 327) responded to the items, and their responses were subjected to a factor analysis. Four factors emerged, each representing a QOL domain. The resulting 23-item instrument was validated in a geographically and socioeconomically diverse sample of peri- and postmenopausal women using the Short Form-36, an established, frequently used QOL inventory. QOL domains were subjected to confirmatory factor analyses, formal item analysis was completed, and the measure was assessed for reliability and validity, including a second sample of women (n = 270). RESULTS: Women (n = 597; mean age, 52.9 years) from 12 communities across the United States completed the measure. The UQOL seems to reflect four components of QOL: occupational QOL, health QOL, emotional QOL, and sexual QOL. The questionnaire and scoring system are presented. CONCLUSION: We are reporting on the process of validating an instrument for quantifying sense of well-being in a perimenopausal population. Substantial reliability and validity estimates for the scale and its subscales support the UQOL as a valuable new tool for use in clinical research and practice.
OBJECTIVE: Quality of life (QOL) is an outcome variable requiring measurement in clinical care or pivotal regulatory trial research. Current menopause QOL measures are mostly life phase or disease symptom inventories or scores. Believing that QOL should refer more to "sense of well-being," we have developed the Utian QOL scale (UQOL) that is strongly based on perception of sense of well-being as distinct from menopausal symptoms. DESIGN: A pool of items sampling various aspects of well-being was developed. Peri- and postmenopausal women (n = 327) responded to the items, and their responses were subjected to a factor analysis. Four factors emerged, each representing a QOL domain. The resulting 23-item instrument was validated in a geographically and socioeconomically diverse sample of peri- and postmenopausal women using the Short Form-36, an established, frequently used QOL inventory. QOL domains were subjected to confirmatory factor analyses, formal item analysis was completed, and the measure was assessed for reliability and validity, including a second sample of women (n = 270). RESULTS: Women (n = 597; mean age, 52.9 years) from 12 communities across the United States completed the measure. The UQOL seems to reflect four components of QOL: occupational QOL, health QOL, emotional QOL, and sexual QOL. The questionnaire and scoring system are presented. CONCLUSION: We are reporting on the process of validating an instrument for quantifying sense of well-being in a perimenopausal population. Substantial reliability and validity estimates for the scale and its subscales support the UQOL as a valuable new tool for use in clinical research and practice.
Authors: Wulf H Utian; David F Archer; Gloria A Bachmann; Christopher Gallagher; Francine n Grodstein; Julia R Heiman; Victor W Henderson; Howard N Hodis; Richard H Karas; Rogerio A Lobo; JoAnn E Manson; Robert L Reid; Peter J Schmidt; Cynthia A Stuenkel Journal: Menopause Date: 2008 Jul-Aug Impact factor: 2.953
Authors: Dahima Cintron; John P Beckman; Kent R Bailey; Brian D Lahr; Muthuvel Jayachandran; Virginia M Miller Journal: Maturitas Date: 2017-02-17 Impact factor: 4.342
Authors: Richard J Santen; D Craig Allred; Stacy P Ardoin; David F Archer; Norman Boyd; Glenn D Braunstein; Henry G Burger; Graham A Colditz; Susan R Davis; Marco Gambacciani; Barbara A Gower; Victor W Henderson; Wael N Jarjour; Richard H Karas; Michael Kleerekoper; Roger A Lobo; JoAnn E Manson; Jo Marsden; Kathryn A Martin; Lisa Martin; JoAnn V Pinkerton; David R Rubinow; Helena Teede; Diane M Thiboutot; Wulf H Utian Journal: J Clin Endocrinol Metab Date: 2010-06-21 Impact factor: 5.958
Authors: Tatjana Gazibara; Selmina Nurkovic; Nikolina Kovacevic; Ilma Kurtagic; Biljana Rancic; Sanja Radovanovic; Branislav Milosevic; Milan Terzic; Jelena Dotlic Journal: Qual Life Res Date: 2017-06-03 Impact factor: 4.147
Authors: Peter M Wayne; Julie E Buring; Roger B Davis; Ellen M Connors; Paolo Bonato; Benjamin Patritti; Mary Fischer; Gloria Y Yeh; Calvin J Cohen; Danette Carroll; Douglas P Kiel Journal: BMC Musculoskelet Disord Date: 2010-03-01 Impact factor: 2.362