Generic quality of life assessment in psychiatry. Potentials and limitations

The term 'quality of life' has only recently been introduced to psychiatric outcome assessment. Current approaches to such assessment include the development of disease-specific quality of life instruments for psychiatric patient populations as well as the examination of generic quality of life instruments for use in psychiatric outcome studies. The current paper describes the psychiatric work with one example for a generic instrument: the short-form health survey questionnaire (SF-36). The 36 item patient-based questionnaire was developed within the Medical Outcome Study in the United States, was translated, validated and standardized in several countries and has been used in psychiatric settings. Results of epidemiological studies suggest that the SF-36 is applicable to psychiatric patients, is a psychometrically sound instrument also in this indication and yields relevant information in showing the degree of impairment in quality of life domains as experienced by psychiatric patients. The use of generic instruments in psychiatric population, such as the SF-36, might contribute to a better understanding of patients' quality of life as assessed in epidemiological studies, clinical trials and quality of care evaluations.