Measures
McGill quality of life (MQOL)
This 17-item survey assessed participants’ overall QOL
level as well as scores on five subscales: physical wellbeing,
physical symptoms, psychological well-being, existential
well-being, and support. A sample item included
‘‘Considering all parts of my lifedphysical, emotional,
social, spiritual, and financialdover the past two (2) days
the quality of my life has been: very bad (0) to excellent
(10).’’ Seven items are reverse scored. Subscales are
scored individually as well as a total score (mean of the
subscales).29 High scores on each subscale indicate high
QOL.50
We chose the MQOL scale because of its reliability, its
focus on health rather than illness, its holistic approach to
QOL, its brevity, and its inclusion of existential well-being
which is a key issue for people facing life-threatening illnesses,
conditions, and disabilities.18 This scale has been