[Construct and validation of a quality of life's scale for older French people]

Given changing and subjective aspects of quality of life, the current assessment scales are often encompassing and not very adapted for older people. Thus, the present validation study has several objectives: 1) To elaborate a specific measure of the quality of life of older people, given the characteristics and problems of this population; 2) To propose a simple scale to use for any health care professional and fast passation to encourage the inclusion of such measures in the framework of a comprehensive care of the elderly; 3) To validate this scale in a large cohort of retired older farmers. This scale resulted in 14 items illustrating the various dimensions of quality of life of older people. It was then proposed for validation in a large cohort of retired elderly farmers of 65 years and over, and living at home. After exploratory factor analysis of subjects' responses to the EQVPA, five items were extracted explaining 48.8% of the total variance. Its internal consistency was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha=0.72). The five items permitted to assess daily and social activities in environment, social and familial relationships, physical and functional health and mental health. The results showed that quality of life is significantly correlated with greater life satisfaction, more social support and social network, higher level of subjective health, lower level of functional impairments, lower level of anxious and depressive symptoms, and lower level of routinization. Validation of the tools such as EQVPA seems important for the prevention and preservation of the quality of life of older people.