Development of Practical Outcome Measures to Account for Individual Differences and Temporal Changes in Quality of Life Appraisal [Methods Study], New York, 2013-2019

Many research studies seek to learn how treatments affect patients' quality of life. Quality of life includes mood and energy. It also includes how people view their roles in their families or communities and whether they can perform those roles. Researchers use surveys to ask about patients' quality of life. But patients may answer the same question differently depending on different characteristics, such as their age or where they live. Some patients may think about their work roles while others may think about their families or social lives. How patients think about quality of life can affect what researchers learn about the effects of treatment.
In this study, the research team tested two surveys they created to measure differences in how patients think about their quality of life. The first, long survey had 74 questions, and the second, short survey had 23 questions.