Conclusions The last 10 years has seen a substantial increase in the number of mapping studies and some evidence of advancement in methods with consideration of models beyond OLS and greater reporting of predictive ability of mapping functions
Background Mapping is an increasingly common method used to predict instrument-specific preference-based health-state utility values ( HSUVs ) from data obtained from another health-related quality of life ( HRQoL ) measure .
There have been several method ological developments in this area since a previous review up to 2007 .
The Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instrument: a psychometric measure of Health-Related Quality of Life
This paper describes constructing the Assessment of Quality of Life ( AQoL ) instrument ; design ed to measure health-related quality of life ( HRQoL )  , and to be the descriptive system for a multi-attribute utility instrument . Unlike previous utility instruments ' descriptive systems , the AQoL 's has been developed using state-of-the-art psychometric procedures . The result is a descriptive system which emphasizes five different facets of HRQoL and which can cl aim to have construct validity . Based on the WHO 's definition of health a model of HRQoL was developed . Items were written by focus groups of doctors and the research ers . These were administered to a construction sample , comprising hospital patients , and community members chosen at r and om . Final construction was through an iterative process of factor and reliability analyses . The AQoL measures 5 dimensions : illness , independent living , social relationships , physical senses and psychological wellbeing . Each has three items . Exploratory factor analysis showed the dimensions were orthogonal , and each was unidimensional . Internal consistency was α = 0.81 . Structural equation modeling explored its internal structure ; the comparative fit index was 0.90 . These preliminary results indicate the AQoL has the prerequisite qualities for a psychometric HRQoL instrument for evaluation ; replication with a larger sample is needed to verify these findings . Scaling it for economic evaluation using utilities is being undertaken . Respondents have indicated the AQoL is easy to underst and and is quickly completed . Its initial properties suggest it may be widely applicable
Conclusions The last 10 years has seen a substantial increase in the number of mapping studies and some evidence of advancement in methods with consideration of models beyond OLS and greater reporting of predictive ability of mapping functions
Background Mapping is an increasingly common method used to predict instrument-specific preference-based health-state utility values ( HSUVs ) from data obtained from another health-related quality of life ( HRQoL ) measure .
There have been several method ological developments in this area since a previous review up to 2007 .