WHOQOL-bref, an instrument for quality of life assessment: a systematic review

This is a descriptive, exploratory study conducted with the purpose of performing a review of the literature on studies using the WHOQOL-bref as the instrument for data collection regarding quality of life assessments. The LILACS and MEDLINE databases were researched. We selected 169 abstracts published on this topic until December 2006. These abstracts comprised the material for analysis. The first study was published in 1998, with progressive increase along the years, mainly in 2005 and 2006 (62.1% of the total). The countries with more publications using the WHOQOL-bref were Brazil (14.2%), Taiwan (13%), and Germany (8.2%). A great variety of journals published studies about the topic, with prevalence of the Quality of Life Research, which accounted for 31 articles (18.3%). Of 107 journals, 29.8% were related to the areas of psychiatry, psychology, and mental health. The subjects more frequently researched were patients with psychiatric diseases and the general population, followed by caregivers and patients with cardiovascular, neurological, and chronic renal conditions, and the elderly. The most referred objectives of the studies were validation or evaluation of the psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-bref, assessment of the quality of life in a group of subjects with respective subgroups, and evaluation of the quality of life in a group of subjects compared with a control group. The WHOQOL-bref was used in several countries and in different people groups, showing many possibilities of use in an international and transcultural perspective.