Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25194472›Full record

ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2014

Measuring quality of life in mental health: are we asking the right questions?

Janice Connell, Alicia O'Cathain, John Brazier

Abstract readValidation Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
83citing papers in PubMed, 11 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

83 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Quality of Life in Wilson's Disease: A Systematic Literature Review.Journal of health economics and outcomes research · 2021
    Pooled it
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  8. Antidepressants for depression in adults with HIV infection.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018
    Pooled it
  9. Patient-reported outcome measures in older people with hip fracture: a systematic review of quality and acceptability.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2017
    Pooled it
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  14. Psychometric evaluation of the German version of the Recovering Quality of Life (ReQoL) measures in patients with affective disorders.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2023
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23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Janice ConnellHealth Services Research, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. Electronic address: j.connell@sheffield.ac.uk.
Alicia O'CathainHealth Services Research, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
John BrazierHealth Economics, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.

Funding

Medical Research Council ID 88107
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Measuring quality-adjusted-life years using generic preference-based quality of life measures is common practice when evaluating health interventions. However, there are concerns that measures in common use, such as the EQ-5D and SF-6D, focus overly on physical health and therefore may not be appropriate for measuring quality of life for people with mental health problems. The aim of this research was to identify the domains of quality of life that are important to people with mental health problems in order to assess the content validity of these generic measures. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 people, recruited from UK mental health services, with a broad range of mental health problems at varying levels of severity. This complemented a previous systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies on the same topic. Seven domains important to quality of life for people with mental health problems were identified: well-being and ill-being; relationships and a sense of belonging; activity; self-perception; autonomy, hope and hopelessness; and physical health. These were consistent with the systematic review, with the addition of physical health as a domain, and revealed a differing emphasis on the positive and negative aspects of quality of life according to the severity of the mental health problems. We conclude that the content of existing generic preference-based measures of health do not cover this domain space well. Additionally, because people may experience substantial improvements in their quality of life without registering on the positive end of a quality of life scale, it is important that the full spectrum of negative through to positive aspects of each domain are included in any quality of life measure.

Indexed as

Mental DisordersQuality of LifeAdultAgedFemaleHumansInterviews as TopicMaleMiddle AgedQualitative ResearchQuality-Adjusted Life YearsSelf ConceptState MedicineSurveys and QuestionnairesUnited KingdomEQ-5DMental healthPreference based measuresQuality of lifeRecoverySF-6DUKWell-being

Identifiers

PMID25194472
PMCPMC4224500

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.