The DQoL-OC study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development of the Dementia Quality of Life Scale for Older Family Carers of People with Dementia (DQoL-OC) and Evaluation of its Psychometric Properties
IRAS ID
182378
Contact name
Deborah Oliveira
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 29 days
Research summary
This study aims to develop the ‘Dementia Quality of Life Scale for Older Family Carers’ (DQoL-OC), a dementia specific questionnaire to evaluate the quality of life of older people providing unpaid care for family members with dementia at home in the UK, and evaluate its validity and reliability. It is aimed to allow researchers, health and social professionals, as well as support groups’ leaders, to quantify the experience of care in old age, for the implementation and evaluation of interventions with these older family carers aiming to improve their QoL. This is a sequential mixed-methods study (qual->QUAN) that used focus groups with carers attending carers’ support groups provided in the community of Nottinghamshire in order to develop the content of the DQoL-OC (concluded phase - REC approval: D10072014 SoHS) and now aims to carry out a pilot study (current phase) to evaluate the validity and reliability of this questionnaire. Participants need to be aged between 60 and 100 years old, currently providing unpaid care for a family member with dementia (carers’ self-report) at home in the UK, to understand and speak English, and to accept to participate of the study. The research will be publicized in GP centres and NHS Memory clinics through posts and leaflets and registered family carers may be contacted by e-mail or introduced to the research leaflets during consultations or when scheduling an appointment by NHS staff members. A maximum of 300 participants will be included in the study. The carers that contact the researcher and provide their addresses’ details will receive the recently developed DQoL-OC, other self-reported questionnaires and the PIS in a pre-paid envelope. They will fill in the questionnaires and return them to the researcher by post. A smaller group of participants from the pilot study (n maximum=25) will be invited for a re-test session, when the same questionnaires will be applied. Recruitment is expected to start within NHS services in July 2015, with an approximate duration of 8 months. Recruitment within NHS services is expected to end in February of 2016.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
15/IEC08/0041
Date of REC Opinion
6 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion