Scale Overview
The World Health Organization Quality of Life – Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) was developed by World Health Organization (1996). It is designed to measure Quality of Life. The scale is intended for use with Adults.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 26 items organized into 5 factors/subscales: Physical Health, Psychological, Social Relationships, Environment, General Quality of Life.
| Factor / Subscale |
Items |
N |
| Physical Health |
3,4,10,15,16,17,18 |
7 |
| Psychological |
5,6,7,11,19,26 |
6 |
| Social Relationships |
20,21,22 |
3 |
| Environment |
8,9,12,13,14,23,24,25 |
8 |
| General Quality of Life |
1,2 |
2 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Very poor / Very dissatisfied / Not at all / Never, 2 = Poor / Dissatisfied / A little / Seldom, 3 = Neither poor nor good / Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied / A moderate amount / Quite often, 4 = Good / Satisfied / Very much / Mostly / Very often, 5 = Very good / Very satisfied / An extreme amount / Completely / Always.
The scale includes 3 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 4 to 20. Interpretation guidelines:
- Domain scores are typically transformed to a 4-20 scale or a 0-100 scale, where higher scores denote higher quality of life.: 4 – 20
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Cronbach's alpha values range from 0.66 to 0.84 across domains..
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.