VALIDATION DATA

MEASUREMENT PROPERTIES
Limitations >=5 European languages (English)
Observations

Heaney et al. conducted a literature search to identify published articles reporting on the use of the RAQoL. Psychometric and clinical research studies were included in the review. They concluded that the RAQoL has excellent psychometric properties and can detect the impact of both clinical and non-clinical interventions. 

1. RELIABILITY
A. Internal Consistency Tested
Cronbach's (Describe)

0.92-0.94

B. Reliability intraobserver or test-retest Tested
Continuous scores: intraclass
correlation coefficient (ICC)
Dichotomus: Cohen kappa (Describe)

Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient: 0.90; Intraclass correlation coefficient >0.90.

C. Reliability interobserver or Measurement error Not Tested
Standard error of measurement (SEM),
smallest detectable change (SDC) or
Limits of agreement (LoA) (Describe)
2. VALIDITY
A. Content validity: face validity Tested
Expert opinion (relevance and
comprehensiveness) (Describe)

The questionnaire was delevoped based on qualitative interviews with RA patients in the Netherlands and the UK (25 patients in each country).

B. Construct Validity:
Structural validity
Tested
Hypotheses-testing Tested
Cross-cultural validity Not Tested
Brief Description

Principal component analysis revealed 4 primary factors with high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha): mobility/energy 0.79, self-care 0.75, mood/emotion 0.71, and physical contact 0.54.

C. Criterion validity Tested
Comparison with a 'gold standard' Continuous scores:
correlations, ROC curves Dichotomus:
Sensitivity & Specificity (Describe)

RAQOL scores correlate with other measures of quality of life in RA cohorts including a rating scale utility (r= - 0.63) and EuroQol 5-domain (EQ-5D) (r= - 0.62 to - 0.76)