Development of an objective instrument to assess quality of life in social services: Reliability and validity in Spain

This study reports on the development and validation of a questionnaire that allows the objective assessment of the quality of life of social service users. Because of the increasing demand for applying the concept of quality of life in social services for handicapped people, and because of the need to have a sensitive tool to use as a basis for organizational changes, the development of GENCAT Scale was carried out. The first study entailed the construction of items based on our current understanding of quality of life domains and indicators. In the second study, the psychometric properties of the Catalonian version of the GENCAT Scale were analyzed after applying the instrument to a representative sample of 608 professionals and 3,029 users of 239 services from Catalonia. The results showed reliability in terms of internal consistency of .92. The scale's dimensionality was studied using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Finally, the use of this scale is discussed as a useful and innovative tool to serve as the basis for evidence-based practices, the improvement of services and programs.