THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

QUALITY OF LIFE (WHOQOL) –BREF

STEPS FOR CHECKING AND CLEANING DATA AND COMPUTING
DOMAIN SCORES FOR THE WHOQOL-BREF
(prepared by Alison Harper And Mick Power on behalf of the WHOQOL Group)
Steps SPSS syntax for carrying out data checking,cleaning and
computing total scores
Check all 26 RECODE Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16
items from Q17 Q18 Q19 120 Q21 Q22 Q23 Q24 Q25 Q26 (1=1) (2=2) (3=3) (4=4) (5=5)
assessment (ELSE=SYMSIS).
have a range of
1-5 (This recodes all data outside the range 1-5 to system missing)
Reverse 3 RECODE Q3 Q4 Q26 (1=5) (2=4) (3=3) (4=2) (5=1)
negatively
phras (This transforms negatively framed questions to positively framed questions)
Compute COMPUTE PHYS=MEAN.6(Q3,Q4,Q10,Q15,Q16,Q17,Q18)*4.
domain scores COMPUTE PSYCH= MEAN.5(Q5,Q6,Q7,Q11,Q19,Q26)*4. COMPUTE
SOCIAL=MEAN.2(Q20,Q21,Q22)*4.
COMPUTE ENVIR= MEAN . 6 (Q8,Q9,Q12, Q13,Q14,Q23, Q24 ,Q25) *4.

(These equations calculate the domain scores. All scores are multiplied by 4 so
as to be directly comparable with scores derived from the WHOQOL-100. The
“.6” in “MEAN.6” specifies that 6 items must be endorsed for the domain
score to be calculated.)
Transform COMPUTE PHYS=(PHYS-4)*(100/16).
scores to 0-100 COMPUTE PSYCH=(PSYCH-4)*(100/16).
scale COMPUTE SOCIAL=(SOCIAL-4)*(100/16).
COMPUTE ENVIR=(ENVIR-4)*(100/16)
Delete cases COUNT TOTAL=Q1 TO Q26 (1 THRU 5)
with > 20% (This command creates a new column “total”. “Total” contains a count of the
missing data WHOQOL-BREF items with values 1-5 that have been endorsed by each
subject. Then “Q1 TO Q26” means that consecutive columns from “Q1”, the
first item, to “Q26”,
the last item, are included in the count. It therefore assumes that data is entered
in the order given in the assessment.)
SELECT IF (TOTAL>21). EXECUTE.
(This second command selects only those cases where “total”, the “total
number” of items completed, is greater than or equal to 80%. It deletes the
remaining cases from the dataset.)
Check domain DESCRIPTIVES
scores VARIABLES=DOM1 DOM2 DOM3 DOM4
/STATISTICS=MEAN STDDEV MIN MAX.
(Running descriptives should display values of all domain scores
within the range 4-20).
Save data set Save data set with a new file name so that the original remains intact.

v
The WHOQOL-BREF assesses four domains of quality of life: physical health,
psychological, social relationships and the environment. It is possible to derive four
domain scores from the WHOQOL-BREF. The four domain scores denote an
individual’s perception of quality of life in each particular domain.
Calculating domain scores involves two steps
STEP 1
Calculate raw scores for each domain using the table below:
DOMAIN Equations for computing domain scores Raw
score
Physical (6-Q3) + (6-Q4) + Q10 + Q15 + Q16 + Q17 + Q18
Health + + + + + + a. =

Psychological Q5 + Q6 + Q7 + Q11 + Q19 + (6-Q26)

+ + + + + + a. =
Social Q20 + Q21 + Q22
relationships + + a. =

Environment Q8 + Q9 + Q12 + Q13 + Q14 + Q23 + Q24 + Q25

+ + + + + + + a. =

For instance to calculate the Physical Health domain raw score, note down the
client’s responses to each of the relevant questions.
QUESTION CLIENTS RESPONSE
Question 3 Very much = 4
Question 4 A moderate amount = 3
Question 10 A little = 2
Question 15 Poor = 2
Question 16 Satisfied = 4
Question 17 Satisfied = 4
Question 18 Very Satisfied = 5

Then add these responses into the equation in the table above.
For example:
Physical health domain raw score
= (6 - 4) + (6 - 3) + 2 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 5
= 2 + 3 + 2 + 2+ 4 + 4 + 5
= 22

w
STEP 2
Convert raw scores to a transformed scores (on a 0-100 scale) using tables for each
domain on the next page
Method for converting raw scores to transformed scores

Domain 1 Domain 2 Domain 3

Raw Transformed Raw Transformed Raw Transformed
Score score Score score Score score
4-20 0-100 4-20 0-100 4-20 0-100
7 4 0 6 4 0 6 4 0
8 5 6 7 5 6 7 5 6
9 5 6 8 5 6 8 5 19
10 6 13 9 6 13 9 6 25
11 6 13 10 7 19 10 7 31
12 7 19 11 7 19 11 7 44
13 7 19 12 8 25 12 8 50
14 8 25 13 9 31 13 9 56
15 9 31 14 9 31 14 9 69
26 9 31 15 10 38 15 10 75
17 10 38 26 11 44 26 11 81
18 10 38 17 11 44 17 11 94
19 11 44 18 12 50 18 12 100
20 11 44 19 13 56
21 12 50 20 13 56
22 13 56 21 14 63
23 13 56 22 15 69
24 14 63 23 15 69
25 14 63 24 16 75
26 15 69 25 17 81
27 15 69 26 17 81
28 16 75 27 18 88
29 17 81 28 19 94
30 17 81 29 19 94
31 18 88 30 20 100
32 18 88
33 19 94
34 19 94
35 20 100

x
 Domain 4
Raw Transformed
Score score
8 4-20 0-100
9 4 0
10 5 6
11 5 6
12 6 13
13 6 19
14 7 19
15 7 25
26 8 25
17 8 31
18 9 31
19 9 38
20 10 38
21 10 44
22 11 44
23 11 50
24 12 50
25 12 56
26 13 56
27 13 63
28 14 63
29 14 69
30 15 69
31 15 75
32 16 75
33 16 81
34 17 81
35 17 88
36 18 88
37 18 94
38 19 94
39 19 100
40 20 100