A pilot study in the use of the quality of life interview schedule

The purpose of this study was to refine the Quality of Life Interview Schedule (QUOLIS¢) approach to measuring the quality of life of developmentally handicapped adults who are unable to complete a written questionnaire or a verbal interview. Emphasis was placed on the evaluation of intra- and inter-rater agreement. Ten interviews were conducted. Informants were primarily parents and residential counselors. The results indicate that the QUOLIS¢ approach is generally acceptable to informants, the rating scales are sensitive, and the majority of scores have substantial to almost perfect correlations of intra- and inter-rater agreement.