Development of Urdu Version of Short Form 36 Health Questionnaire
Condition: Quality of Life
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      Quality of life (QOL) is an overarching term for the quality of the various domains in life.
      It is a standard level that consists of the expectations of an individual or society for a
      good life. These expectations are guided by the values, goals and socio-cultural context in
      which an individual lives. It is a subjective, multidimensional concept that defines a
      standard level for emotional, physical, material and social well-being. The Short Form (36)
      Health Survey is a 36-item, patient-reported survey of patient health. The SF-36 is a measure
      of health status and an abbreviated variant of it, the SF-6D, is commonly used in health
      economics as a variable in the quality-adjusted life year calculation to determine the
      cost-effectiveness of a health treatment. The original SF-36 stemmed from the Medical Outcome
      Study, MOS, which was conducted by the RAND Corporation. The primary objectives of this
      research were to translate, validate and generate normative data on the SF-36 health survey
      for using among Urdu speaking residents of Pakistan.SF-36 health questionnaire is first
      translated into Urdu and then apply on healthy subjects to check the validity and reliability
      of this scale . Instrument will be first translated from English to Urdu by two experts. Both
      these experts were fluent in English and Urdu language. One expert belongs to allied health
      care profession and other expert will be junior life scientist. The third expert compares the
      initial to Urdu translation and formulated the first draft of SF-36 Health Questionnaire.
      Content validity of SF-36 Health Questionnaire was established by committee method. 10
      experts from physical therapy field rate the all 36 items of the SF-36 Health Questionnaire
      on content validity index developed by RAND Corporation. They rate each item of SF-36 Health
      Questionnaire for its relevance, clarity, simplicity, and ambiguity on four point ordinal
      likert scale. Data will be analyzed using SPSS v 25. Intra class correlation coefficient,
      chronbach alpha and factor analysis will be used to analyses the data.
    

Detailed description: 
      The 36-item Short Form Health Survey is a brief self administered questionnaire that
      generates scores across eight dimensions of health: physical functioning (PF), role
      limitations due to physical problems (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality
      (VT), social functioning (SF), role limitations due to emotional problems (RE), mental health
      (MH), and one single item scale on health transition. It has proved useful in monitoring
      population health, estimating the burden of different diseases, monitoring outcomes in
      clinical practice, and evaluating treatment effects. The improved longevity suggests that
      health status can no longer be well assessed by population mortality statistics; there is a
      consensus to view health in terms of people's subjective assessment of wellbeing and ability
      to perform social roles the centrality of people's point of view in monitoring health related
      quality of life has led to the proliferation of instruments and a rapid development of
      theoretical literature. Interest in measuring the aspects of health most closely related to
      quality of life usually referred to as health-related. Quality of life (HR-QOL) has increased
      in recent years in Pakistan as in other countries. Advances have been made in methods for
      describing patients' subjective health status using standardized measures, and several valid
      and reliable patient- based measures are available either as generic or disease and treatment
      targeted questionnaires. However, most of these are in English and are intended for use in
      English-speaking settings.With few but relevant exceptions that were actually translated or
      developed as part of Multilanguage and multinational projects. Most of such efforts were
      produced by isolated groups of researchers who seldom published their findings in
      peer-reviewed journals. Among the so-called generic measures, the MOS 36- Item Short Form
      Health Survey (SF-36) is known for its comprehensiveness, brevity, and high standards of
      reliability and validity. It was first translated by independent Italian teams in 1990. With
      the launch of the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) project. The reliability
      and validity of the SF-36 have been well documented by the developers of the instrument. A
      comparison of a series of generic health status measures indicated that the SF-36 is not only
      psychometrically sound but is also more responsive to clinical improvement than the other
      instruments tested. Moreover, health functioning changed in the hypothesized direction with
      increased age, socioeconomic status and disease status in a population-based longitudinal
      study of the SF-36, which suggests that the instrument is sensitive to changes in the health
      of the general population. The SF-36 has been cross- culturally translated and Adapted to
      many cultures and languages. To the Author's knowledge, there is no version of SF-36 in Urdu.
      Lack of Urdu version of the SF-36 impedes comparison of interventions performed in Urdu
      rehabilitation clinics with those performed elsewhere.
    

Observational model: Ecologic or Community
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Healthy subjects aged between 20 to 60 years both male and female subjects will be
        included.Current health problems such as chronic allergy, back pain, visual impairments,
        chronic skin problems, chronic lung problems, deafness or hearing problems, functional
        impairment in leg or arm or other chronic health problems
      
Keywords: Health Related Quality of Life; Public Health; Health Status Indicators