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FREE PAPER SESSION: QUALITY OF LIFE AND NUTRITION
Free Paper Session: Quality of Life and Nutrition
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RELATING SF-12 SURVEY Results TO A VALUE OF LIFE IN PATIENTS
WITH WOUNDS
Theresa Hurd 1
1 Nursing Practice Solutions Inc. (Stevensville, Canada).
Aim: Policy decisions are influenced by cost-effectiveness analysis and studies to
determine healthcare fiscal responsibility. Patient well-being is an important factor when
considering costs, but no standardized functioning score exists to measure and
deliberate the human and financial costs attributed to managing patients with wounds.
Health policy makers must capture both quality and quantity of life when comparing and
prioritizing health interventions for the prevention and treatment of wounds.
Methods: The Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12) is utilized by clinicians to gather
and measure patient perception of their health. The SF-12 score is used as an indicator
for quantifying the compensation value for a patient’s illness and is utilized in
concurrence with the maximum value of life. Using a subjective score, the author has
converted the human and financial cost of a patient’s years of life living with a wound
compared to a year of life lived in perfect health.
Results: Describing the impact of wounds on a large wound population in Canada has
demonstrated costs in the billions of dollars. Extrapolating both the human and financial
cost demonstrates the true impact and burden of managing patients with wounds.
Conclusions: Relating the SF-12 survey results to a value of life allows for insight into
the extensiveness of the exponential cost in terms of years loss of healthy living. The
ability to collect quality data could prove to be a remarkable addition to investigating
patient wellbeing and managing patients with wounds.
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Free Paper Session: Quality of Life and Nutrition
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE “WOUND-QOL”, A SHORT
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF
LIFE IN CHRONIC WOUNDS
Matthias Augustin 1 , Christine Blome 1 , Katrin Baade 1 , Kristina Heyer 1 , Patricia Price 2 ,
Katharina Herberger 1 , Michael Engelhardt 3 , Sebastian Debus 4
1 Institute for Health Services Research in Dermatology and Nursing, University Clinics
of Hamburg (Hamburg, Germany);
2 School of Healthcare Studies, University of Cardiff (Wales, United Kingdom);
3 Bundeswehrkrankenhaus (Ulm, Germany);
4 Clinic for Vascular Surgery, University Clinics of Hamburg (Hamburg, Germany).
Aim: Development and validation of the “Wound-QoL”, a short questionnaire on healthrelated
quality of life (HRQoL) in chronic wounds.
Methods: The Wound-QoL combines features of three validated instruments, the
Freiburg life quality assessment for wounds (FLQA-w), the Cardiff wound impact scale
(CWIS) and the Würzburg wound score (WWS). The questionnaires were tested for their
psychometric properties and feasibility under routine care (results presented at EWMA
2012). Deriving from these tests, best-performing items in factor analyses and optimum
formal features of the questionnaires (e.g. scaling) were identified and included in the
new instrument. In particular, patient acceptance was a major criterion for adaptation.
For this, patients were included in the item selection and wording process. Data of the
new questionnaire were derived from a non-interventional routine study on chronic
wounds in routine care on record. In part, data were documented in an online database.
Psychometric assessments included distribution, internal consistency, responsiveness,
and construct validity. Feasibility and patient acceptance were specifically evaluated.
Results: The item selection process resulted in a 17-items solution loading on three
scales. Data analysis on n=165 patients revealed good internal consistency with
Cronbach’s alpha = 0.91. Construct validity and responsiveness were acceptable. Paperbased
as well as electronic recording showed good feasibility.
Conclusion: Wound-QoL is a reliable, sensitive and valid instrument for the assessment
of HRQoL in leg ulcers. It is feasible for use in clinical routine, including online
databases, and in clinical trials.
EWMA 2013
COPENHAGEN
15-17 May · 2013
Danish Wound
Healing Society
39