Developing an instrument to measure quality of life of patients with hyperhidrosis

Quality of life (QOL) is an index of the state of wellness of an individual. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure quality of life of patients with hyperhidrosis. With a multi- dimensional model of QOL as the conceptual framework for instrument development, the study started from literature review which was followed by interviews with patients, staff nurses, and doctors to generate the original items for the instrument. The validity and reliability then were assessed. Six experts performed content validity (CVI =.70). Internal consistency and construct validity assessment followed. A quantitative research method was used in this study. During March 2002 to April 2003, 85 patients from the surgical outpatient clinic at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan were purposively recruifed as subjects. Written consent was obtained before subjects answered a questionnaire that should take 8-10 minutes to finish. Data analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows 8.0. Mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage, Cronbach ' s alpha, Pearson ' s correlation, and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. Exploratory factor analysis identified five factors. They were functional, social interaction, personal affective, psychological and physical function. The coefficients of Cronbach ' s alpha for these five factors ranged from 0.71 to 0.94. These five factors explained 68.90 % of the variance in QOL among the patients with hyperhidrosis. The results showed that the instrument had satisfactory validity and reliability. Implications of these results for future studies were discussed.