Smith et al developed a quality of life questionnaire for patients with chronic venous ulceration involving the leg. This can help monitor the patient over time to evaluate the response to interventions and personal adjustments to the disease. The authors are from the Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine and Charing Cross Hospital.
Number of items: 20 (21 are shown in Appendix I. Statement 1 is described in the text as being removed from the final instrument).
Statements (Group 1) - 9 items
|
Responses |
Points |
|
none of the time |
1 |
|
a little of the time |
2 |
|
some of the time |
3 |
|
a good bit of the time |
4 |
|
all of the time |
5 |
Statements (Group 2) - 6 items
|
Responses |
Number Shown |
Points Assigned (Reversed) |
|
definitely true |
1 |
5 |
|
mostly true |
2 |
4 |
|
don't know |
3 |
3 |
|
mostly false |
4 |
2 |
|
definitely false |
5 |
1 |
Statement (Group 3) - 3 items
|
Responses |
Number Shown |
Points Assigned (Reversed) |
|
a huge problem |
1 |
5 |
|
a big problem |
2 |
4 |
|
a moderate problem |
3 |
3 |
|
a little problem |
4 |
2 |
|
no problem |
5 |
1 |
Statements (Group 4) - 3 items
|
Responses |
Points |
|
never |
1 |
|
occasionally |
2 |
|
often |
3 |
|
always |
4 |
To help standardize responses, in the implementation I modified the point assignment for this last group to be the same as the first group
|
Responses |
Points |
|
none of the time |
1 |
|
a little of the time |
2 |
|
some of the time |
3 |
|
a good bit of the time |
4 |
|
all of the time |
5 |
total score =
= SUM(points for all 20 items)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 20 (not including statement 1)
• maximum score as published: 97 (with maximum of 4 points for items 19 to 21)
• maximum score as modified: 100
• The higher the score the greater the impact of the chronic venous ulcers on the patient's quality of life.
Subscores
The authors identified 4 subdomains in the questions for impact on the patient:
(1) social interaction
(2) domestic
(3) cosmesis
(4) emotional
Based on Table I (page 645), the mapping of statements to subscales is:
(1) social (F1): 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 21
(2) domestic (F2): 6, 7, 8, 9
(3) cosmesis (F3): 12, 16, 17, 18, 19
(4) emotional (F4): 11, 13, 14, 15, 20
