Background: This paper, part of the European Psychiatric Services: Inputs Linked to Outcome Domains and Needs (EPSILON) Study, reports the development, reliability and internal consistency of the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile--European Version (LQoLP-EU) in a representative sample of people with schizophrenia from five European sites.
Method: The LQoLP-EU was administered to a total sample of 404 patients to check its internal consistency, and a sub-sample of 294 patients was interviewed a second time within 7-15 days to verify its test-retest reliability.
Results: Internal consistency of the total domains, perceived QoL scale (Life Satisfaction Scale, LSS) was good at 0.87. Of the nine subjective QoL domains Work and Leisure showed the lowest internal consistency (0.30 and 0.56 respectively), the values of the remaining sub-scales ranging between 0.62 and 0.88. The pooled ICC score for LSS was 0.82, and for the nine subjective QoL domain sub-scales it ranged from 0.61 (Safety) to 0.75 (Living Situation). There were significant differences between the sites in alpha and ICCs for sub-scales, but not for the LSS.
Conclusion: The LQoLP-EU has good internal consistency and reliability in the five European centres.