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Developing a measure of medication-related quality of life for people with polypharmacy

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Abstract

Purpose

To develop a measure of medication-related quality of life (MRQoL) and to validate the measure in a hospital-based population of patients with polypharmacy.

Methods

The Medication-Related Quality of Life Scale version 1.0 (MRQoLS-v1.0) included 14 items developed on the basis of interviews with elderly patients with polypharmacy, defined as taking five or more medications simultaneously. This scale was tested in 219 outpatients (99 with polypharmacy and 120 without polypharmacy). Two measures were used to establish construct validity the Psychological Distress Checklist, for convergent validity, and the Medication Adherence Behavior Scale (MABS), for discriminant validity.

Results

The 14-item scale was found to be both reliable and valid. Internal consistency reliability evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.91. Scores on the MRQoLS-v1.0 correlated statistically significantly and negatively with those on the Psychological Distress Checklist. Discriminant validity was demonstrated by low correlation with MABS, indicating that the MRQoLS-v1.0 measured concepts different from medication adherence. Significant differences in the MRQoLS-v1.0 between patients with polypharmacy and those without polypharmacy provided evidence for known-group validity.

Conclusions

The study presents a psychometric evaluation of a measure used to assess MRQoL of patients with polypharmacy. The instrument is practical to administer in clinics and provides a valuable adjunct to the outcome measurement for patients with polypharmacy. Further research on the sensitivity of this instrument to medication change in multi-medicated patients is warranted.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (Grant No. MOST103-2410-H-182-023-MY2), and Chang Gung Research Fund, Linko (CORPG3C0151). For the use or translation of the MRQoLS-v1.0, please contact the first author at tsenghm@mail.cgu.edu.tw for instructions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Care Management, College of Management, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

    Hsu-Min Tseng

  2. Department of Pharmacy Administration, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

    Chia-Hui Lee

  3. Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

    Yin-Jen Chen

  4. Division of Critical Care Nephrology, Department of Nephrology, Kidney Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

    Hsiang-Hao Hsu

  5. Center for Quality Management, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

    Li-Yueh Huang

  6. Division of Allergy, Asthma and Rheumatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 5, Fu-Hsin Street, Kueishan, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

    Jing-Long Huang

  7. Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

    Hsiang-Hao Hsu & Jing-Long Huang

Authors
  1. Hsu-Min Tseng
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  2. Chia-Hui Lee
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  3. Yin-Jen Chen
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  4. Hsiang-Hao Hsu
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  5. Li-Yueh Huang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jing-Long Huang.

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The ethical and legal requirements in Taiwan were also adhered to, and this study received ethical approval from the ethics committee of the institutional review board of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan (Registration No.: 102-2609B).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Tseng, HM., Lee, CH., Chen, YJ. et al. Developing a measure of medication-related quality of life for people with polypharmacy. Qual Life Res 25, 1295–1302 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1177-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1177-2

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