Validation of a new patient-reported outcome instrument of health-related quality of life specific to patients with alcohol use disorder: the Alcohol Quality of Life Scale (AQoLS)
Abstract
Purpose The Alcohol Quality of Life Scale (AQoLS) is a new patient-reported outcome 34-item questionnaire measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL), specific to patients with an alcohol use disorder, developed from the patients' perspective. This is the first report establishing evidence in support of measurement reliability and validity of the AQoLS.Methods A total of 285 randomly selected patients receiving interventions for alcohol use disorder in addiction specialised care settings in France were included in the study (response rate 80.1 %). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the hypothesised-during-development-stage dimensional structure of the AQoLS. Internal consistency of the total score and the dimensions subscores were assessed through Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Construct validity was tested through correlations with the Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) and EuroQol 5 dimensions (EQ-5D).Results Exploratory analysis indicated seven observed dimensions which differed slightly from the 7 dimensions defined a priori in the framework hypothesised during the scale development: activities, relationships, living conditions, negative emotions, self-esteem, control and sleep. A major common factor allows the summing of the 34 items to obtain a total score. All the 34 items were acceptable. Cronbach's alpha for the AQoLS total score was 0.96 and ranged from 0.8 to 0.9 for the dimensions subscores. Negative correlations between AQoLS and all dimensions of the SF-36, but general health and positive correlations between AQoLS and all items of the EQ-5D were shown. As expected, the correlations were mostly moderate in magnitude, low with scores referring to physical areas and the highest with the SF-36 MSC.Conclusion This study provides evidence of the measure's psychometric properties in terms of construct validity and internal consistency. The "control" and "self-esteem" dimensions are of particular interest as these concepts are not captured in existing HRQOL. Further longitudinal validation of the scale is necessary to assess sensitivity to change.
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The AQoLS shows good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.96).
“The AQoLs shows good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.96).”
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- Authors
- Luquiens, A., Whalley, D., Laramée, P., Falissard, B., Kostogianni, N., Rehm, J., Manthey, J., Paille, F., & Aubin, H. J.
- Affiliations
- Université Paris-Sud (FR)
- RTI Health Solutions (US)
- Lyon 1 Université (FR)
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CA)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Luquiens, A.
- Venue
- Quality of Life Research
- Published
- 2015-11-20
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1549-1560
- ISSN
- 0962-9343 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2649
- OpenAlex
- W2285114321
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 1.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Quality of Life Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Sanofi
- H. Lundbeck A/S
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
- Social Sciences › Education › Health Education and Validation
- Keywords
- alcoholism, health-related quality of life, patient-reported outcome measures, psychometric validation, construct validity, internal consistency, scale development, addiction services, self-esteem, perceived control, SF-36, EQ-5D
- MeSH terms
- Self-Control, Patient Reported Outcome Measures, Adult, Female, France, Health Status, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Psychometrics, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Self Concept, Sleep, Reproducibility of Results, Alcohol-Related Disorders, Young Adult
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