Elsevier

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 41, Issue 10, November 1995, Pages 1403-1409
Social Science & Medicine

The World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL): Position paper from the World Health Organization

https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(95)00112-KGet rights and content

Abstract

This paper describes the World Health Organization's project to develop a quality of life instrument (the WHOQOL). It outlines the reasons that the project was undertaken, the thinking that underlies the project, the method that has been followed in its development and the current status of the project. The WHOQOL assesses individuals' perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. It has been developed collaboratively in several culturally diverse centres over four years. Piloting of the WHOQOL on some 4500 respondents in 15 cultural settings has been completed. On the basis of this data the revised WHOQOL Field Trial Form has been finalized, and field testing is currently in progress. The WHOQOL produces a multi-dimensional profile of scores across six domains and 24 sub-domains of quality of life.

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    • Cited by (0)

    ∗

    This paper was written by Dr Willem Kuyken on behalf of the WHOQOL Group. The WHOQOL group comprises a coordinating group, collaborating investigators in each of the field centres and a panel of consultants. Dr J. Orley directs the project. He has been assisted by Dr W. Kuyken, Dr N. Sartorius and Dr M. Power. In the field centres collaborating investigators are: Professor H. Herrman, Dr H. Schofield and Ms B. Murphy, University of Melbourne, Australia; Professor Z. Metelko, Professor S. Szabo and Mrs M. Pibernik-Okanovic, Institute of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases and Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Croatia; Dr N. Quemada and Dr A. Caria, INSERM, Paris, France; Dr S. Rajkumar and Mrs Shuba Kumar, Madras Medical College, India; Dr S. Saxena, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; Dr D. Bar-On and Dr M. Amir, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheeva, Israel; Dr Miyako Tazaki, Department of Science, Science University of Tokyo, Japan and Dr Ariko Noji, Department of Community Health Nursing, St Luke's College of Nursing, Japan; Dr G. van Heck and Mrs J. De Vries, Tilburg University, The Netherlands; Professor J. Arroyo Sucre and Professor L. Picard-Ami, University of Panama, Panama; Professor M. Kabanov, Dr A. Lomachenkov and Dr G. Burkovsky, Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia; Dr R. Lucas Carrasco, Barcelona, Spain; Dr Yooth Bodharamik and Mr Kitikorn Meesapya, Institute of Mental Health, Bangkok, Thailand; Dr S. Skevington, University of Bath, United Kingdom; Dr D. Patrick, Ms M. Martin and Ms D. Wild, University of Washington, Seattle, U.S.A. and; Professor W. Acuda, Dr. J. Mutambirwa, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.

    An international panel of consultants includes: Dr N. K. Aaronson, Dr P. Bech, Dr M. Bullinger, Dr He-Nian Chen, Dr J. Fox-Rushby, Dr C. Moinpour and Dr R. Rosser. Consultants who have advised WHO at various stages of the development of the project have included: Dr D. Buesching, Dr D. Bucquet, Dr L. W. Chambers, Dr B. Jambon, Dr C. D. Jenkins, Dr D. De Leo, Dr L. Fallowfield, Dr P. Gerin, Dr P. Graham, Dr O. Gureje, Dr K. Kalumba, Dr Kerr-Correa, Dr C. Mercier, Mr J. Oliver, Dr Y. H. Poortinga, Dr R. Trotter and Dr F. van Dam.

    Technical support and funds have been provided by the World Health Organization, the participating centres themselves and by support from the Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo, U.S.A., the IPSEN Foundation, Paris, France and the Carnegie Corporation, New York.

    Further information and cited WHO documents can be obtained from: The WHOQOL Group, Division of Mental Health, World Health Organization, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.

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