Dying Well : Missoula-Vitas Quality of Life Index : MVQOLI : Organization of Items

Dimensions

Symptoms (S):
Experience of physical discomfort associated with progressive illness and the resulting level of physical distress.

Functional (F):
Perceived ability to perform accustomed functions and activities of daily living experienced in relation to the person's expectations, and the associated emotional response.

Interpersonal (IP):
Degree of investment in personal relationships and the perceived quality of ones relations/interactions with family and friends.

Well-being (WB):
Self-assessment of a person's internal condition. A subjective sense of wellness or dis-ease, contentment or lack of contentment.

Transcendent (T):
Experienced degree of connection with an enduring construct; degree of experienced meaning and purpose of one's life.

Categories and Scoring

Within each dimension, there are three categories:
Assessment: subjective measure of actual states or circumstances
Satisfaction: degree of acceptance or mastery of actual circumstances
Importance: degree to which a given dimension has an impact on overall QOL

The scale runs from -30 to +30.

To create a Weighted Dimension Score (WDS), the scores of the Assessment and Satisfaction items are added and the sum then multiplied by the numerical Importance value assigned by the patient.

The Total Score is a sum of dimension scores mathematically adjusted to a 0 to 30 scale.

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This instrument was created by Ira Byock, MD and Melanie Merriman, PhD.
Reference: Byock IR and Merriman MP. Measuring quality of life for patients with terminal illness: the Missoula-VITAS Quality of Life Index. Pall. Med. 12:231-244, 1998.
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