Measuring the Quality of Life of Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Swedish Version of the Quality of Life Scale (QOLS)

Abstract

The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS) was translated into Swedish and reliability and validity was studied. The Swedish version (QOLS-S) was given to 100 women with rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus along with the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales and a visual analog pain scale. Disease activity was also measured using the Ritchie Articular Index and a patient version of the Systemic Lupus Activity Measure. Results indicated that the QOLS-S had high test-retest reliability (r =. 84 for a 4-week interval) and internal consistency reliability (alpha =. 82 at Time 1 and. 88 at Time 2). An hypothesis that the QOLS-S would have low to moderate correlations with measures of health status and disease activity was supported. We conclude that the QOLS-S is a reliable and valid measure of quality of life in Swedish women with RA and SLE and that it provides a measure of quality of life that is distinct from health status and disease activity.

Key Words:

• rheumatoid arthritis
• systemic lupus erythematosus
• quality of life
• health status
• pain
• disease activity