[Development and Evaluation of Allergic Rhinitis-Specific Quality of Life (ARSQOL) Scale for Adults]

The purpose of this study was to develop an Allergic Rhinitis-Specific Quality of Life (ARSQOL) scale and verify its validity and reliability.

ARSQOL was developed in 5 steps. Items for the preliminary instrument of ARSQOL were developed through a literature review and deep interviews with allergic rhinitis patients. Face validity with Content Validity Index (CVI), construct validity using factor analysis, and known group comparison, criterion validity test using correlation between ARSQOL and total nasal symptoms score (TNSS) were conducted to evaluate the validity of ARSQOL. Cronbach's α was used to evaluate the reliability of ARSQOL.

CVI for the items in the final ARSQOL were .92. Five factors including discomfort associated with nasal symptoms (4 items), physical function (7 items), mental function (5 items), sleep disorder and social function (4 items), and problems of daily life (6 items) were identified through factor analysis and these five factors explained 66.6% of the total variance. The correlation coefficient between TNSS and the total score of life quality was -.69. In the group comparison, the persistent allergic rhinitis group showed lower ARSQOL scores than the intermittent patient group, and moderate to the severe allergic rhinitis patient group presented poorer ARSQOL than the mild symptom patient group. The Cronbach's α reliability coefficient was .95.

Results show that the ARSQOL has good reliability and validity and thus ARSQOL is a useful scale for clinical practices and research as a measure of quality of life in adults with allergicr hinitis.