OBJECTIVETo assess the reliability, validity and responsiveness of the Chinese Quality of Life Instrument (ChQOL) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

METHODSAssessment on quality of life (QOL) of 39 CHF patients was performed in synchronous step adopting three generally used questionnaires the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL-BREF), the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-items Health Survey (SF-36), and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHF), as well as the ChQOL respectively.

RESULTSChQOL showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > 0.7), with its theoretical structural model consistent with the three factors produced from factor analysis, and showed better criterion validity than that of WHOQOL-BREF, SF-36 and MLHF. The 4 weeks' follow-up visiting completed in 32 patients showed that according to patients' self-evaluation and the cardiac functional assessment by the doctors, the responsiveness of the ChQOL was better than that of the WHOQOL-BREF and SF-36, but slightly inferior to that of the MLHF.

CONCLUSIONChQOL showed good reliability, validity and responsiveness in assessing QOL of CHF patients.

Aged ; China ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Health Status Indicators ; Heart Failure ; psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Psychometrics ; Quality of Life ; Self-Assessment ; Surveys and Questionnaires