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Development of a new measure of health-related quality of life for people with dementia: DEMQOL
Smith SC, Lamping DL, Banerjee S, Harwood RH, Foley B, Smith P, Cook JC, Murray J et al.. Psychological medicine, 2006-12-19
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background We identified the need to develop a scientifically rigorous measure of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in dementia that would be appropriate for use at all stages of dementia severity and would be available in both self- and proxy-report versions. Method We used standard psychometric methods to eliminate items with poor psychometric properties (item-reduction field test) and to assess the acceptability, reliability and validity of the item-reduced instruments (psychometric evaluation field test). We developed and validated two versions of DEMQOL: a 28-item interviewer-administered questionnaire that is self-reported by the person with dementia (DEMQOL) and a 31-item interviewer-administered questionnaire that is proxy-reported by a caregiver (DEMQOL-Proxy). Results DEMQOL shows high reliability (internal consistency and test-retest) and moderate validity in people with mild/moderate dementia. DEMQOL-Proxy shows good acceptability and internal consistency and moderate evidence of validity in people with mild/moderate and severe dementia. Test-retest reliability and performance in people with severe dementia need further testing. Conclusions DEMQOL and DEMQOL-Proxy show psychometric properties that are comparable with the best available dementia-specific measures of HRQL. We recommend that DEMQOL and DEMQOL-Proxy are used together. Reliability and validity need to be confirmed in independent samples and responsiveness needs to be evaluated.
Key findings
- Results DEMQOL shows high reliability (internal consistency and test-retest) and moderate validity in people with mild/moderate dementia.
Why it matters
This paper built DEMQOL, a 28-item questionnaire answered by the person with dementia, and DEMQOL-Proxy, a 31-item version answered by a caregiver, to measure health-related quality of life, and recommends using them together. The authors report the self-report version as reliable with moderate validity in mild-to-moderate dementia, and the proxy version as acceptable with moderate validity up to severe dementia. They say the results still need confirming in independent samples and that whether scores pick up change over time was not tested, so it is a measurement tool, not evidence that any treatment works.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 46/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Psychological medicine) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Psychological Medicine: journal h-index 331 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2007 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 285 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 13.6 citations a year over 21 year(s) since 2007 |
| Impact for its field and year | 2 / 6 | Cited 2.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 9 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 53 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Martin Richard John Knapp: h-index 120 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | King's College London: institution h-index 1,348 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 5 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 17176501) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 46 / 100 | — |
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Read the original
May need a subscription OpenAlex found no free copy of the full text (checked 6 Feb 1020), so the publisher may charge for it. The PubMed abstract is free.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Smith, S. C., Lamping, D. L., Banerjee, S., Harwood, R. H., Foley, B., Smith, P., et al. (2007). Development of a new measure of health-related quality of life for people with dementia: DEMQOL. Psychological medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291706009469
Vancouver
Smith SC, Lamping DL, Banerjee S, Harwood RH, Foley B, Smith P, et al. Development of a new measure of health-related quality of life for people with dementia: DEMQOL. Psychological medicine. 2007. doi:10.1017/s0033291706009469. PMID: 17176501.
BibTeX
@article{smith2007-17176501,
author = {Smith, S. C. and Lamping, D. L. and Banerjee, S. and Harwood, R. H. and Foley, B. and Smith, P. and Cook, J. C. and Murray, J. and others},
title = {{Development of a new measure of health-related quality of life for people with dementia: DEMQOL}},
journal = {Psychological medicine},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1017/s0033291706009469},
pmid = {17176501},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291706009469}
}
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