Injection Drug User Quality of Life Scale (IDUQOL): Findings from a content validation study

BACKGROUND: Quality of life studies among injection drug users have primarily focused on health-related measures. The chaotic life-style of many injection drug users (IDUs), however, extends far beyond their health, and impacts upon social relationships, employment opportunities, housing, and day to day survival. Most current quality of life instruments do not capture the realities of people living with addictions. The Injection Drug Users' Quality of Life Scale (IDUQOL) was developed to reflect the life areas of relevance to IDUs. The present study examined the content validity of the IDUQOL using judgmental methods based on subject matter experts' (SMEs) ratings of various elements of this measure (e.g., appropriateness of life areas or items, names and descriptions of life areas, instructions for administration and scoring). METHODS: Six SMEs were provided with a copy of the IDUQOL and its administration and scoring manual and a detailed content validation questionnaire. Two commonly used judgmental measures of inter-rater agreement, the Content Validity Index (CVI) and the Average Deviation Mean Index (AD(M)), were used to evaluate SMEs' agreement on ratings of IDUQOL elements. RESULTS: A total of 75 elements of the IDUQOL were examined. The CVI results showed that all elements were endorsed by the required number of SMEs or more. The AD(M )results showed that acceptable agreement (i.e., practical significance) was obtained for all elements but statistically significant agreement was missed for nine elements. For these elements, SMEs' feedback was examined for ways to improve the elements. Open-ended feedback also provided suggestions for other revisions to the IDUQOL. CONCLUSION: The results of the study provided strong evidence in support of the content validity of the IDUQOL and direction for the revision of some IDUQOL elements.