DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE MIGRAINE-SPECIFIC QUALITY-OF-LIFE QUESTIONNAIRE

This paper describes the development and validation of a migraine-spec ific quality-of-life instrument that is capable of measuring health-re lated quality-of-life impairments attributed to migraine. Item selecti on, item reduction, and pretesting and finalization of items during th e instrument development phase resulted in a total of 16 questions whi ch were incorporated into the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questi onnaire (Version 1:0) ((C)1992 Glaxo Wellcome Inc). Three meaningful d imensions were hypothesized: Role Function-Restrictive, Role Function- Preventive, and Emotional Function. In the instrument validation phase , the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire was mailed to 11 09 migraine patients, providing a response rate of 45% (n = 458). Init ial psychometric evaluation of the questionnaire indicated that it pos sessed adequate reliability with Cronbach's alpha for the three dimens ions ranging between 0.70 to 0.85. The Migraine-Specific Quality of Li fe Questionnaire possessed adequate content and criterion validity. AI I but three items satisfied the test of construct validity. In conclus ion, the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire has acceptabl e psychometric properties and can be used to estimate the effect of mi graine and its treatment on the patient's health-related quality of li fe.