Publication year
2013Source
Quality of Life Research, 22, 5, (2013), pp. 979-86ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
Health Evidence
Medical Technology Assessment
IQ Healthcare
Geriatrics
Primary and Community Care
Former Organization
Epidemiology, Biostatistics & HTA
Journal title
Quality of Life Research
Volume
vol. 22
Issue
iss. 5
Page start
p. 979
Page end
p. 86
Subject
DCN PAC - Perception action and control NCEBP 11: Alzheimer Centre; NCEBP 11: Alzheimer Centre; NCEBP 2: Evaluation of complex medical interventions; NCEBP 2:Evaluation of complex medical interventions ONCOL 4:Quality of Care; NCEBP 6: Quality of nursing and allied health care; NCEBP 7: Effective primary care and public health; ONCOL 4: Quality of CareAbstract
BACKGROUND: Visual analogue scales (VAS) are often used to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, when such scales contain ambiguous anchors like "best imaginable health state," they produce answers that are difficult to interpret, as such anchors are interpreted differently by respondents of different age. This phenomenon that people's interpretation of subjective response scales changes in response to changing circumstances is known as scale recalibration. The current study attempts to investigate whether scale recalibration in a patient sample with cognitive limitations and proxies differs from the general population. METHODS: The participants in the current study were 151 pairs of community-dwelling patients with dementia and their proxies. They were administered three VASs with different upper anchors; (A) "best imaginable health state," (B) "best imaginable health state for someone your age," and (C) "best imaginable health state for a 25-year-old." From literature, we inferred a conceptual model for the general population that predicts the ordinal relationship of the VASs to be B >/= A >/= C. This rank order is tested by repeated measure ANOVA's in the aforementioned populations. RESULTS: VAS scores of patients with dementia were in line with the conceptual model. Proxy VAS scores for assessing patient HRQoL were not in line with the model: A > B > C. In addition, proxy VAS scores for assessing their own health were not in line with the model: A > B > C. CONCLUSION: Patients with dementia use the VAS in a similar way to the general population. Proxies assessing either patients or themselves differ from the general population.
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- Academic publications [238430]
- Faculty of Medical Sciences [90359]
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