Systematic Review of Health-Related Quality of Life Assessments in Physical Activity Research

In physical activity research, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an outcome variable of growing importance. Physical activity is directly associated with HRQOL and intervention-type studies seek to show improvements in HRQOL based on treatment effects. As interest grows in using HRQOL as an outcome measure in physical activity research, the need to investigate the measurement properties of HRQOL assessments increases in importance. The objective of this study was to systematically explore HRQOL assessments used in physical activity research by examining their instrument characteristics (items, dimensions, scoring, etc.) and their published psychometric properties. Results of this study showed that 10 HRQOL assessments are currently used in physical activity research. Recommendations were made relative to different study designs and goals.