Questions on life satisfaction for adolescents and adults with cystic fibrosis: development of a disease-specific questionnaire. Chest 2003;123:42–8

Study objectives: The development and psychometric properties of an additional disease-specific module of the Questions on Life Satisfaction for adolescents and adults with cystic fibrosis (FLZM-CF) are described. The Questions on Life Satisfaction (FLZM) instrument allows the respondent to rate the subjective importance and her/his satisfaction with different domains of life. Methods: A preliminary 16-item version of the scale was employed in a study with 243 German patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) [16 to 58 years of age; FEV1, 15 to 121 % of predicted], together with the “general life satisfaction ” module and the “satisfaction with health ” module of the FLZM. Item elimination according to the principle of least common variance resulted in the final nine-item version. Results: Cronbach for the FLZM-CF was 0.80; the split-half reliability was 0.72. Convergent validity of the scale was indicated by Pearson correlations of r 0.75 with the generic satisfaction with health scale of the FLZM, r 0.30 with FEV1%, and r 0.26 with daily time for home therapy. The scale discriminated significantly between patients with and without need for assistance in daily life and between patients with and without a partner