ASSESSING IMPACT OF WEIGHT ON QUALITY-OF-LIFE

This paper is a preliminary report on the development of a new instrum ent, the Impact of Weight on Quality of Life (IWQOL) questionnaire, th at assesses the effects of weight on various areas of life. We conduct ed two studies utilizing subjects in treatment for obesity at Duke Uni versity Diet and Fitness Center. The first study describes item develo pment, assesses reliability, and compares pre- and post-treatment scor es on the IWQOL. In the second study we examined the effects of body m ass index (BMI), gender, and age on subjects' perceptions of impact of weight on quality of life. Results indicate adequate psychometric pro perties with test-retest reliabilities averaging .75 for single items, and .89 for scales. Scale internal consistency averaged .87. Post-tre atment scores differed significantly from pre-treatment scores on all scales, indicating that treatment produced positive changes in impact of weight on quality of life. The results of the second study indicate that the impact of weight generally worsened as the patients' size in creased. However for women there was no association between BMI and im pact of weight on Self-Esteem and Sexual Life. Even at the lowest BMI tertile studied, women reported that weight had a substantial impact i n these areas. There were also significant gender differences, with wo men showing greater impact of weight on Self-Esteem and Sexual Life co mpared with men. The impact of age was a bit surprising, with some are as showing positive changes and others showing no change.