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World Health Organization Quality of Life — BREF

WHOQOL-BREF
health sciencespsychologysocial sciencesFree for research use

A 26-item abbreviated version of the WHOQOL-100, measuring quality of life across four domains (Physical Health, Psychological, Social Relationships, Environment) plus two overall items on general QoL and general health. Response anchors vary by item (intensity, frequency, capacity, evaluation).

Items
26
Response format
5-point Likert scale (anchors vary by item)
Version
1.0
Subscales
5

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Quality of life was assessed using the 26-item WHOQOL-BREF (WHOQOL Group, 1998), which yields four domain scores (Physical Health, Psychological, Social Relationships, Environment) on a 0–100 transformed scale, plus two single-item indicators of overall QoL and general health. Items 3, 4, and 26 were reverse-scored prior to domain aggregation.

Reliability & validation

notes
Social Relationships alpha is typically the lowest because the subscale has only three items.
Validation population
Cross-cultural field trial (N = 11,830 across 23 countries)
Cronbach's α
0.68–0.82

Subscales

Overall Quality of Life and General HealthPhysical HealthPsychologicalSocial RelationshipsEnvironment

Response anchors

Varies by item — see items for specific anchors

Known limitations

Anchors vary across items (intensity, frequency, capacity, evaluation) — administer with the exact anchors from the WHOQOL Users Manual. Requires registration with WHO before use. Social Relationships domain has only three items, so its internal consistency is typically modest. Culturally adapted translations should cite the relevant validation study for that language version.

Original citation

WHOQOL Group (1998). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment. Psychological Medicine, 28(3), 551-558.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291798006667

Questions researchers ask

What does the WHOQOL-BREF measure?

A 26-item abbreviated version of the WHOQOL-100, measuring quality of life across four domains (Physical Health, Psychological, Social Relationships, Environment) plus two overall items on general QoL and general health. Response anchors vary by item (intensity, frequency, capacity, evaluation).

How many items does the WHOQOL-BREF have?

The World Health Organization Quality of Life — BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) has 26 items across 5 subscales: Overall Quality of Life and General Health, Physical Health, Psychological, Social Relationships, Environment.

Is the WHOQOL-BREF free to use?

The WHOQOL-BREF is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.

Is the WHOQOL-BREF reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.68–0.82. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the WHOQOL-BREF, and how do I cite it?

WHOQOL Group (1998). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment. Psychological Medicine, 28(3), 551-558. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291798006667

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Library entry verified January 2024. Metadata is provided for reference; item wording is available inside Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing.