Description

The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-120) is a comprehensive psychometric instrument developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the assessment of subjective quality of life. The scale was designed to evaluate how individuals perceive their own quality of life by considering multiple dimensions that influence daily functioning and personal well-being.

The WHOQOL-120 examines quality of life as a multidimensional construct that includes physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships, and environmental conditions. Through its extensive number of items, the instrument provides a detailed evaluation of different aspects of an individual’s life experience.

Objective

The primary objective of the WHOQOL-120 is to assess quality of life from the individual’s own perspective. The scale focuses on understanding how people evaluate their health, personal experiences, social interactions, and living conditions.

The instrument aims to identify the factors that influence everyday functioning and well-being, providing valuable information for the development of healthcare programmes, psychological interventions, and strategies aimed at improving quality of life.

Structure and Content

The WHOQOL-120 consists of 120 items that assess multiple dimensions of quality of life.

The main domains evaluated include:

Physical Health, which examines aspects related to health status, energy, pain, mobility, sleep, and daily functioning.

Psychological Well-being, which evaluates emotions, self-esteem, cognitive functioning, personal beliefs, and overall psychological state.

Social Relationships, which assesses interpersonal relationships, social support, family relationships, and social interaction.

Environment, which examines financial resources, safety, access to healthcare services, living conditions, and the physical environment.

The multidimensional structure of the WHOQOL-120 allows a detailed assessment of the factors that contribute to an individual’s perceived quality of life.

Scoring Method

The WHOQOL-120 uses a Likert-type response scale, where participants evaluate different aspects of their lives from:

1 = Very Low

to

5 = Very High.

Responses are grouped into the different domains of quality of life, and scores are calculated separately for each dimension.

Higher scores indicate better perceived quality of life and greater satisfaction with the corresponding areas of life.

Data Analysis and Use

The WHOQOL-120 provides detailed information regarding different aspects of an individual’s quality of life, including health, psychological functioning, social relationships, and environmental factors.

The collected data are analysed using statistical methods to evaluate quality of life within each domain. The results can be used to compare individual scores with population norms and to examine changes in quality of life before and after therapeutic or psychosocial interventions.

The scale is widely used in clinical, social, and research settings for evaluating quality of life and measuring the effectiveness of medical, psychological, and rehabilitation interventions.

Calibration

The calibration of the WHOQOL-120 includes the evaluation of its psychometric properties through statistical procedures.

Reliability analysis is conducted to examine the internal consistency of the domains using indicators such as Cronbach’s alpha.

Factor analysis is used to confirm the multidimensional structure of the questionnaire and to evaluate construct validity.

Validation studies in different cultural and social contexts ensure that the instrument can be applied reliably across diverse populations.

Applications

The WHOQOL-120 can be applied in healthcare research, clinical psychology, public health studies, rehabilitation programmes, and evaluation of interventions affecting quality of life.

It is particularly useful for studying the impact of chronic diseases, psychological difficulties, social conditions, and healthcare interventions on individuals’ perceived well-being.

References

World Health Organization. (1998). The World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL): Development and general psychometric properties. Social Science & Medicine, 46(12), 1569–1585.

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.

Power, M., & Harper, A. (2010). The World Health Organization WHOQOL-100: Tests of the universality of quality of life in 15 different cultural groups worldwide. Health Psychology, 29(2), 155–165.