The Wisconsin Quality of Life Index (W-QLI) Provider Questionnaire is a comprehensive multi-dimensional measurement tool that reflects the clinician’s perspective on the client’s QoL and functional status. On the basis of previous research, our clinical experience, and recommendations from an advisory board convened to develop the index, we provide eight domains for clinicians to evaluate their clients. These include: 1) occupational activities, 2) psychological well being, 3) physical health, 4) social relations/support, 5) economics, 6) activities of daily living, 7) symptoms/outlook, and 8) goal attainment. In calculating the total QoL score, each domain can be individually weighted depending on how important the clinician thinks the domain is to the client. This instrument is especially helpful for discovering whether the clinician and client are in concordance about treatment goals and the relative importance of different QoL domains. While this instrument can be used by itself, it is designed to be used in conjunction with another instrument that measures the client’s QoL from his/her perspective.

Occupational Activities

This domain focuses on the client’s capacity for performing day-to-day activities related to work or other structured activities. Other questions in this domain relate to patients’ capacity to work in their usual manner and the extent to which the clinician believes the client is capable for employment.

Psychological Health

These questions ask about the clinician’s overall rating of the client’s psychological health.

Physical Health

This domain measures client’s physical health from the clinician’s point of view. Questions ask about the client’s overall physical health as well as side effects from any antipsychotic medications.

Social Relations/Support

Questions in this section ask the clinician to measure the client’s social relations and social skills, including experiences with friends, family and other social interaction in the community.

Economics

These questions asks the clinician to rate the client’s satisfaction with the amount of money he/she has and the degree to which financial limitations restrain the client from doing what he/she wants.

Activities of Daily Living (ADL)

This domain measures the client’s functional status in accomplishing independent living tasks such as maintaining a healthy diet, self-administering medications, following a budget and practicing adequate personal hygiene from the clinician’s perspective.

Symptoms / Outlook

This section uses the 24-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) developed by Overall and Gorgam to measure clients’ level of symtomatology.

Goal Attainment

This section contains questions that ask about the clinician’s mental health treatment goals for their client. Clinicians are asked to specify the three most important mental health treatment goals for the client. Goals are ranked both in terms of their relative importance to the clinician as well as the extent to which the responder feels that the listed treatment goals have been achieved.

Other Analyses of Interest in the W-QLI Provider Questionnaire

The W-QLI Provider Questionnaire contains a number of items that do not load in any specific domains in the total QoL score but which are valuable in both an applied or theoretical context. Examples include but are not limited to:

Alcohol & Other Drugs

These questions can be used in clinical and program evaluations to stratify populations based on whether or not they use alcohol or drugs and the extent to which clinicians perceive that drug or alcohol use is a problem in their clients’ lives. These questions allow clinicians and program evaluators to examine differences in QoL and program effectiveness for clients with and without AODA problems. These questions can also be used to compare the degree to which there is congruence between clinician and client about whether AODA issues are a problem in the clients’ life.

Medication