Objective: To develop a specific quality of life scale for Chinese Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients.
Methods: According to the quality of life definition of WHO, we used methods adhered to the rigorous guidelines of instrument development in item pool formation, item selection and scale validation with the data of 236 Type 2 diabetic patients recruited.
Results: An 87-item Quality of Life Scale for patients with Type 2 DM-prior test version ( DMQLS), including 5 domains ( disease, physical, social, psychological, and satisfaction ) was developed and showed good reliability and validity. The disease domain made up of Type 2 diabetes mellitus-specific sub-scale and the other 4 domains formed the generic sub-scale for adults. The test-retest correlation coefficient, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient and split-half reliability coefficient of DMQLS were 0.996, 0.969 and 0.879, respectively. Twenty-one common factors were extracted according to the conceptual model. The scale's correlations with SF-36 and Diabetes Quality of Life Measure ( DQOL ) were 0.763 and 0.658. DMQLS could discriminate among those with different quality of lives.
Conclusion: DMQLS is reliable, valid and sensitive, and can be used to evaluate the curative effect of Type 2 diabetic patients.