Description

The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL) is a standardized psychometric instrument developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the assessment of individuals’ perceived quality of life.

The scale is based on a multidimensional approach, recognising that quality of life is influenced not only by health status but also by psychological, social, and environmental factors. The WHOQOL was designed to be applicable across different cultural and social contexts, allowing its use in diverse populations worldwide.

Objective

The main objective of the WHOQOL is to evaluate individuals’ subjective perception of their quality of life within their personal, cultural, social, and environmental context.

The instrument aims to provide information that helps healthcare professionals and researchers understand:

the impact of health conditions on daily functioning,

the effects of therapeutic interventions,

the relationship between health and overall well-being,

the factors contributing to improved quality of life.

Structure and Dimensions

The WHOQOL evaluates four major domains of quality of life:

Physical Health:
Assesses aspects related to energy, fatigue, pain, sleep, mobility, and general physical functioning.

Psychological Well-being:
Examines emotional experiences, self-esteem, cognitive functioning, and psychological state.

Social Relationships:
Evaluates interpersonal relationships, social support, and personal relationships.

Environment:
Assesses living conditions, safety, financial resources, access to healthcare, opportunities for learning, and participation in the surrounding environment.

The multidimensional structure allows a comprehensive evaluation of quality of life beyond traditional measures of disease and clinical symptoms.

Scoring Method

The WHOQOL uses a Likert-type response scale to assess different aspects of quality of life.

Participants respond to each item using scores generally ranging from:

1 = Very poor quality of life

to

5 = Very good quality of life.

Responses are analysed to calculate domain scores and an overall quality-of-life profile. Higher scores indicate better perceived quality of life in the corresponding domains.

Validity

The WHOQOL demonstrates strong cross-cultural validity, as it was developed through an international collaboration involving multiple countries and cultural settings.

Its validity has been supported through extensive research examining the relationship between WHOQOL scores and indicators of health status, psychological functioning, social support, and environmental conditions.

Reliability

The WHOQOL and its short version, WHOQOL-BREF, have demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties across different populations.

International field studies have shown good internal consistency and acceptable reliability across the main quality-of-life domains, supporting its use in both research and clinical settings.

Data Analysis and Use

The analysis of WHOQOL data includes calculating scores for each quality-of-life domain and examining overall quality of life.

The results can be used to:

evaluate health-related quality of life,

monitor changes following interventions,

compare quality of life between population groups,

identify areas requiring support or improvement,

assess the broader impact of healthcare services.

The WHOQOL is widely used in clinical research, public health studies, and healthcare evaluation programmes.

Applications

The WHO Quality of Life Scale can be applied in:

healthcare research,

clinical outcome assessment,

chronic disease studies,

mental health evaluation,

public health programmes,

cross-cultural research.

It is particularly valuable because it incorporates the individual’s own perception of well-being and recognises quality of life as a complex interaction between health, personal experiences, relationships, and environment.

References

World Health Organization. (1996). WHOQOL-BREF: Introduction, administration, scoring and generic version of the assessment. Geneva: World Health Organization.

Skevington, S. M., Lotfy, M., & O’Connell, K. A. (2004). The World Health Organization’s WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment: Psychometric properties and results of the international field trial. Quality of Life Research, 13(2), 299–310.

WHOQOL Group. (1998). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment. Psychological Medicine, 28(3), 551–558.