The Life Functioning Questionnaire (LFQ): a brief, gender-neutral scale assessing functional outcome

Altshuler, Lori; Mintz, Jim; Leight, Kristin

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Volume 112, Issue 2 , Pages 161-182, 10 October 2002

The Life Functioning Questionnaire (LFQ): a brief, gender-neutral scale assessing functional outcome

Lori Altshuler
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, 300 UCLA Medical Plaza, Mood Disorders Research Program, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles Healthcare Center, VA Medical Center, Building 208, B116AR, 11301 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA
- Corresponding author. Tel.:+1-310-794-9911; fax +1-310-794-9915
Jim Mintz
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, 300 UCLA Medical Plaza, Mood Disorders Research Program, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles Healthcare Center, VA Medical Center, Building 208, B116AR, 11301 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA
Kristin Leight
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, 300 UCLA Medical Plaza, Mood Disorders Research Program, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- 368 Longwood Avenue, Apt. 34, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Received 23 April 2001; received in revised form 29 May 2002; accepted 22 July 2002.

Abstract

The Life Functioning Questionnaire (LFQ) is a 5-min, 14-item, gender-neutral self-report questionnaire designed to assess role function over the preceding month in four domains: workplace, duties at home, leisure time with family and leisure time with friends. To validate the LFQ for use as an instrument assessing functional outcome in patients with a mood disorder, the LFQ was administered to three different samples of patients (N=87). Fifty-nine concurrently completed the self-report version of the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS-SR) and 32 concurrently had a Clinical Global Impression Scale for Bipolar Disorder (CGI-BP) assessment. The LFQ proved to have high internal consistency reliability, high test–retest reliability, excellent concurrent validity with the SAS-SR, and high validity as a measurement of severity of illness when compared with the CGI-BP. The LFQ provides a reliable, consistent and valid assessment of function at work and home in both male and female patients with a mood disorder.

Keywords: Role function, Functional impairment, Bipolar disorder, Assessment, Quality of life