Consequently, the developers of the measure have suggested methods for reducing the 36 items to 12. The procedures adopted by the American developers have been replicated in the UK context using data from the second Oxford Health and Lifestyles Survey. We have successfully constructed the SF-12 and tested the measure on a wide variety of patient groups. This data is now being compared to SF-12 data gained by the Economic and Social Research Institute in Ireland from their 'Health Consumer Survey'. This study was undertaken in early 1999 and was completed by almost two thousand five hundred Irish individuals.
Papers containing normative data for the Irish context are in preparation.