| Name of the Instrument/Tool | Medical Outcomes Study 20-item Short Form Health Survey (MOS-20) |
| First Description |
The MOS Short-Form General Health Survey: Reliability and Validity in a Patient Population Author(s): Anita L. Stewart, Ron D. Hays and John E. Ware, Jr. Source: Medical Care, Vol. 26, No. 7 (Jul., 1988), pp. 724-735 |
| Year | 1988 |
| Domains | |
| Concept of constructs | Health related quality of life, Pain, Physical function |
| Population/Disease | Disease specific |
| Originally developed for | --- |
| Other rheumatic diseases where can be applied (only if validated) |
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), Fibromyalgia (FM), Gout, Osteoarthritis (OA), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) |
| Additional population with no rheumatic diseases |
No |
| Language: Originally published in | English |
| Available in Language | --- |
| REFERENCE IDENTIFICATION | |
| Author/s | Anita L. Stewart, Ron D. Hays and John E. Ware, Jr. |
| Title | The MOS Short-Form General Health Survey: Reliability and Validity in a Patient Population |
| Journal | --- |
| Year | 1988 |
| Vol | 26 |
| Num | 7 |
| Pages | 724-735 |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Other references of interest | |
| Link | Ware, J. E., Sherbourne, C. D., & Davies, A. R. (1992). Dev … |
| Brief Description |
Study that validates the use of the MOS-20 in a general population. |
| Link | Ware, J. E. 1976. "Scales for measuring general health perce … |
| Brief Description |
This article reports on the construction and testing of eight health perception scales from 32 items on a standardized survey instrument designed for self-administration. |
| Instrument/Tool Translations References | |
| No other References. | |
| DEVELOPER CONTACT INFORMATION | |
| Correspondence to | --- |
| --- | |
| Address | --- |
| Website | --- |
| Available | --- |
| Links | --- |
| DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTRUMENT | |
| Type Of Measure | Questionnaire |
| Brief Description |
The 20-Item MOS-20, also known as Short Form Health Survey (SF-20) is a short-form survey instrument that provides a solution to the problem faced by many investigators who must restrict survey length. The instrument was designed to reduce respondent burden while achieving minimum standards of precision for purposes of group comparisons involving multiple health dimensions: Physical function (6), role functional (2), social functioning (1), mental health (5), current perception of health (5), pain (1). |
| Number of Items | 20 |
| Range | --- |
| Responses options/scale |
No |
| Developed for | --- |
| PRACTICAL APPLICATION | |
| Method of administration | Self-administered |
| Recommendations to score |
Scores for physical and role functioning are reversed so that a high value indicates better functioning. Mental health scales are scored by summing the item responses, after reversing the scoring of some items, so that a high score indicated better health. Before combining items in the health perceptions scale, the response choices of the overall health item (item 1) were recoded to better reflect the unequal intervals of the item. The single-item measures were scored so that high scores indicated better social functioning and more pain. |
| Score Interpretation | Scores are transformed linearly to 0-100 scales, with 0 and 100 assigned to the lowest and highest possible scores, respectively. |
| Cut-off points | --- |
| Cut-off points applied to | --- |
| Smallest detectable change if described | --- |
| Smallest detectable change applied to | --- |
| Completion time by the patient | 4 minutes |
| Scoring time by the assessor | 2 minutes |
| Training to score | Not necessary |
| Strengths | Easy to use |
| Limitations | Copyrighted |
| OTHER COMMENTS | |
| Other Comments | --- |