The quality of dying and death measurement instruments: A systematic psychometric review.

Abstract

To identify instruments that could assess the quality of dying and death andtheir psychometric properties. To assess the methodological quality of studies onmeasurement properties.Background: A high quality of death is regarded as a goal at the end of life and,therefore, an assessment of the end of life experience is essential. Many instrumentshave been developed to evaluate the quality of dying and death. The selection ofthe most appropriate measure to be used in clinical and research settings is crucial.Design: Psychometric systematic review.Data Sources: We systematically searched ProQuest Medline, SciELO and ProQuestPsycINFO from 1970 - May 2016.Review Methods: Identification and evaluation of instruments that assessed qualityof dying and death. Papers were evaluated by two independent reviewers accordingto the COSMIN checklist with a 4-point scale.Results: A total of 19 studies were included in this review. Seven instruments werefound that were specifically designed for assessing quality of dying and death. A ret-rospective carer proxy report to evaluate this construct was used in most of thepapers. The methodological quality of the studies was fair for most of the psycho-metric characteristics analyzed.Conclusion: Many instruments have been developed to assess the quality of dyingand death. The Quality of Dying and Death Questionnaire is the best available mea-sure of the quality of dying and death. It is the only questionnaire identified in thisreview where all psychometric properties according to the COSMIN checklist havebeen evaluated