The fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) tool: development and general psychometric properties(†)

Boivin, Jacky; Takefman, Janet; Braverman, Andrea

Data were screened and duplicate internet protocol (IP) addresses were eliminated unless of different gender and response pattern. Descriptive statistics and correlations were used to identify the best items for each a priori domain of QoL (e.g. emotional, mind/body, relational and social). This a priori work was done to ensure that conceptually similar groups of items were entered into the factor analysis. Factor analyses (orthogonal rotation) were computed (clinic, online) to ascertain relations among these items. Items with factor loadings less than 0.30 and eigenvalues less than one were eliminated. The FertiQoL total and subscale scores were computed and transformed to scaled scores and summary statistics (e.g. reliability coefficient, mean and standard deviation) produced. Scaled scores were computed to achieve a range of 0 -100, making comparisons between scales easier. For scaling, items were reverse-scored (where necessary); all items then summed and multiplied by 25/k, where k was the number of items in the desired subscale or total scale. Higher scores mean better QoL. For the sake of brevity, only final analyses are shown here. These analyses generated the final FertiQoL, which composed 24 core items, plus 10 optional treatment items). See www.fertiqol.org for final FertiQoL in all languages and for scoring instructions. Table II shows background characteristics and these show that the Clinic group were older, and included more men, single women, same-sex couples and people with a university-education, but fewer American and UK residents and people living in rural/ suburban areas compared with the Online sample. The Clinic sample was more likely to have at least one child, a shorter duration of infertility but less likely to have other health problems.