Accordance and reproducibility of the electronic version of the WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD questionnaires

Introduction: Evidence of the validity of instruments for assessing health-related quality of life (QOL) are fundamental to grant interpretations and direct actions at the level of promotion and health care.

Purpose: To verify the agreement and reproducibility of the QOL assessment instruments WHOQOL-Bref and WHOQOL-Old, in paper (PV) and electronic version (EV), called WHOQOL-Bref web and WHOQOL-Old web, respectively.

Subjects and method: A cross-sectional study was performed with 98 elderly people, separated into two groups, from Tapejara-RS, Brazil, during 2016 and 2017. The WHOQOL-bref and WHOQOL-old instruments applied in the PV and EV were answered individually.

Results: The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) observed in the accordance and reproducibility of the overall WHOQOL-Bref and WHOQOL-Old scores were higher than 0.90, respectively. The ICC was higher than 0.80 for most of the WHOQOL-Bref and WHOQOL domains, except for the domains Physical (WHOQOL-Bref: ICC = 0.67) and Autonomy (WHOQOL-Old: ICC = 0.78).

Conclusion: The web versions of the WHOQOL-bref and WHOQOL-old questionnaires presented good evidence of accordance and reproducibility.