Generation, Selection, and Face Validation of Items for a New Generic Measure of Quality of Life: The EQ-HWB

• Published in: Value in health 2022-04, Vol.25 (4), p.512-524
• Main Authors: Carlton, Jill, Peasgood, Tessa, Mukuria, Clara, Connell, Janice, Brazier, John, Ludwig, Kristina, Marten, Ole, Kreimeier, Simone, Engel, Lidia, Belizán, Maria, Yang, Zhihao, Monteiro, Andrea, Kuharic, Maja, Luo, Nan, Mulhern, Brendan, Greiner, Wolfgang, Pickard, Simon, Augustovski, Federico
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Caregivers; EQ-HWB; face validity; Humans; interviews; item selection; Psychometrics - methods; Quality of Life; Quality-Adjusted Life Years; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 1098-3015; 1524-4733
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jval.2021.12.007

This article aims to describe the generation and selection of items (stage 2) and face validation (stage 3) of a large international (multilingual) project to develop a new generic measure, the EQ-HWB (EQ Health and Wellbeing), for use in economic evaluation across health, social care, and public health to estimate quality-adjusted life-years. Items from commonly used generic, carer, social care, and mental health quality of life measures were mapped onto domains or subdomains identified from a literature review. Potential terms and items were reviewed and refined to ensure coverage of the construct of the domains/subdomain (stage 2). Input on the potential item pool, response options, and recall period was sought from 3 key stakeholder groups. The pool of candidate items was tested in qualitative interviews with potential future users in an international face validation study (stage 3). Stage 2 resulted in the generation of 687 items. Predetermined selection criteria were applied by the research team resulting in 598 items being dropped, leaving 89 items that were reviewed by key stakeholder groups. Face validation (stage 3) tested 97 draft items and 4 response scales. A total of 47 items were retained and 14 were modified, whereas 3 were added to the candidate pool of items. This resulted in a 64-item set. This international multiculture, multilingual study with a common methodology identified many items that performed well across all countries. These were taken to the psychometric testing along with modified and new items for the EQ-HWB. •Currently, few generic measures for economic evaluation exist. This study describes the process of the item generation and face validation stages from the estimate quality-adjusted life-year project.•The face validation stage was conducted in 6 countries. Generally, participants favored brief items. Nevertheless, for some items, having examples and more information on the contexts could be helpful.•This was an initial validation test of items that should be used in the EQ Health and Wellbeing measure for economic evaluation of health and social care interventions.