Development of a structured interview scale for measuring quality of life of the severely mentally ill

An objective, semi-structured interview questionnaire (QOLIS) was designed and tested with 201 severely mentally ill people who were living in a state hospital and in community residential facilities. Factor analysis resulted in eight factors with face validity and acceptable coefficient alphas. The factors were found to be related meaningfully to overall level of functioning, total symptom scores, self-reported life satisfaction, and an established objective measure of quality of life. Criterion validity was established and the QOLIS factors significantly differentiated people who were living in the community vs. living in a state hospital. These results suggest that the QOLIS has potential as a valid outcome measure and program evaluation tool.