EVALUATING QUALITY-OF-LIFE AND HEALTH-STATUS INSTRUMENTS - DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC REVIEW CRITERIA

The Medical Outcomes Trust is a depository and distributor of high-qua lity, standardized, health outcomes measurement instruments to nationa l and international health communities. Every instrument in the Trust library is reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Committee against a rig orous set of eight attributes. These attributes consist of the followi ng: (1) conceptual and measurement model; (2) reliability; (3) validit y; (4) responsiveness; (5) interpretability; (6) respondent and admini strative burden; (7) alternative forms; and (8) cultural and language adaptations. In addition to a full description of each attribute, we d iscuss uses of these criteria beyond evaluation of existing instrument s and lessons learned in the first few rounds of instrument review aga inst these criteria.