[Development and validation of a quality of life questionnaire for patients with chronic respiratory disease (CV-PERC): preliminary results].

a b s t r a c t Introduction and Objectives: The instruments used to assess quality of life in patients with chronic respiratory difficulties have approached this construct in a limited and partial way. Due to this fact, the present paper aimed at describing the development and validation of the CV-PERC scale contemplating the dimensions of physical, psycho-emotional and social, cognitive, working, sexual functionalities and health perception and wellbeing. Patients and Methods: It was built stemming from the Saint George Respiratory Questionnaire and the SF- 36, generating new items after a theoretical revision and interviews to patients. The selected items were submitted to expert's judgments (Neumonologists and Health Psychologists) to assess validity, wording and appropriateness of language. The initial 60-item instrument was applied to a sample of 101 patients for item selection and analysis. Lastly, the final 50-item scale was administered to a sample of 255 patients from four hospitals in Caracas, Venezuela, to collect data for reliability and validity analyses. Results: A 7-dimension factorial structure was found which explained 62.47% of the total variance (physical functionality, sexual functionality, working functionality, health perception and wellbeing, psycho- emotional functionality, cognitive functionality and social functionality). Internal consistency of each dimension and of the total scale was over 0.67. Convergent validity and discriminant coefficients were above 0.64. Conclusions: The results provide evidence that the CV-PERC scale is a valid and reliable measure to assess quality of life in asthma and EPOC patients.