Objective: To develop a questionnaire about quality of life (QV) suitable for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients.
Design: Two prospective studies by direct interviews; in the first one the questionnaire was answered before and after surgical intervention and in the second during ICU stay and six months after hospital discharge.
Setting: Surgical ward and surgical-medical ICU.
Materials and methods: Adult, co-operative patients, resident near the hospital, who gave informed consent have been interviewed. The following items of QOL were investigated: residence, physical activity, social life, perceived QV, oral communication and functional limitation, considering age. The last two items were assessed by the interviewer.
Results: Inter-observer reliability on oral communication and functional limitation, assessed by two interviewers in 87 surgical patients, was good (p = 0.68 and p = 0.72 respectively). Validation of the questionnaire in 37 surgical cases showed worsening in all the items, consistent with theoretical prediction. In the 152 ICU consecutively admitted eligible patients, physical activity, social life, functional limitation and global QV (sum of all the investigated items) significantly changed. Residence, perceived QV and oral communication did not change. Internal consistency of the instrument was good (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The evaluative instrument studied shows good reliability and validity. The authors suggest a shorter questionnaire could be tested in future investigations.