The WHOQOL Group’s scientific contributions

The World Health Organization (WHO) is developing an international quality of life assessment instrument (WHOQOL) which will allow an enquiry into the perception of individuals of their own position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. The WHOQOL will measure quality of life related to health and health care. It is being developed in the framework of a collaborative project involving numerous centres in different cultural settings. In addition it will have proven psychometric properties of validity, reliability and responsiveness to change and will be sensitive to the cultural setting in which it is applied, while maintaining comparability of scores across different cultural settings. This chapter outlines the methodology for the development of the instrument and sets out the characteristics and uses of the WHOQOL.