CONVERGENT VALIDITY OF QUALITY OF LIFE INTERVIEW (QOLI) IN AN INDIAN SETTING: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

Quality of life research in India on patients with schizophrenia is scarce. Quality of life interview (QOLI), a commonly used instrument in the West has not been used in a developing country like India. The aim was to assess convergence validity of QOLI (modified as per the Indian cultural background). 38 clinically stable outpatients with chronic schizophrenia (as per ICD-10) were administered QOLI- Brief version. Quality of Life Scale (QLS) and WHOQOL- Bref over two interviews the latter two scales having cross-cultural applicability. Significant correlations were obtained for QOLI with QLS and WHOQOL-Bref. It can be concluded that QOLI demonstrated convergent validity with both a disease-specific (QLS) and a generic (WHOQOL-Bref) scale, which have been previously used in the Indian setting. Hence, results support the applicability of QOLI in a different sociocultural setting.