Short summary

Living with a hard to heal wound affects patients quality of life. In care of people with hard to heal wounds it is therefore important to assess different health related quality of life dimensions. Currently, there is no Danish instrument to help professionals and patients identify and measure these different aspects. The instrument "Wound-QoL" measures these dimensions of quality of life but have not been available in Danish. German and Swedish validation processes have shown enough evidence to recommend the "Wound-QoL" to be used in daily clinical practice and for research purpose. 

Rationale

Hard to heal wounds have a substantial negative influence on quality of life. Pain, social isolation and limitation in everyday life are examples of the consequences. Furthermore, depression, anxiety and the feeling of shame and powerlessness have also been described by people with hard to heal wounds. Addressing quality of life is a very important aspect of wound care. Without a disease-specific quality of life questionnaire for people with hard to heal wounds, it is difficult to identify what impairs the patient's quality of life. Understanding how quality of life is affected is crucial in the development of new treatment and it is important that patient's quality of life, is assessed from the patient's own perspective. Quality of life is an individual experience and it is therefore important to recognize the patient's perspective.

The "Wound-QoL" is a German health-related quality of life questionnaire, derived from three wound specific instruments, The Freiburg Life Quality Assessment for wounds, the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule, and the Würzburg Wound Score. These three instruments are used in Germany, for assessing health-related quality of life among patients with hard to heal wounds. A study showed that the three instruments are highly reliable, but not very useful in clinical practice as they are too long having too many questions and too much text. Furthermore, it is not possible to calculate subscale scores. Due to these limitations it was decided to develop "Wound-QoL" a short and easy-to-read questionnaire usable in both clinical research and practice. Wound-QoL is a questionnaire with 17 questions on one page and a 5-point likert-scale. The questions cover the topics 'body', 'psyche' and 'everyday life', and gives the opportunity for calculating one total score and three subscale scores. 

Wound-QoL has been translated into twenty different languages. The validity of translated versions of "Wound-QoL" has been tested by German and Swedish research groups, who concluded that the "Wound-QoL" is fit for use in clinical practice and to measure outcomes in clinical research. It is well accepted by patients, can be completed in a few minutes, reflects the patient's perspective and identify important impaired dimensions, even when wound care seemed to be optimal. 

The aim of this study is to do the relevant validation test on the newly translated "Wound-QoL" to ensure that it can be used in a Danish setting.

Description of the cohort

People older than 18 years and with duration of wounds more than six weeks, will be included if they master the Danish language and have adequate cognition to complete the questionnaire. 

Data and biological material

Questionnaire including Wound-QoL, EQ-5D-5L, demographic data, wound-type and duration. 

Collaborating researchers and departments

Department of Dermatology at Odense University Hospital

• Professor and Consultant Anette Bygum

Quality of Life Research Center, Department of Haematology, Odense University Hospital

• Physiotherapist, Ph.d. project manager Henrik Eshøj

Department of Dermatology, Odense University Hospital

• Clinical Nursing Specialist Jeanette Møller Hansen

University of Southern Denmark

• Research Nurse and Master degree student Charlotte Winther Johansen

University of Southern Denmark and Department of Dermatology, Odense University Hospital

• Research Nurse, Master degree student and nurse specialist Jane Thinggaard Knudsen

Publications associated with the project

Knudsen, Jane Thinggard (2018): "Livskvalitetsskema (Wound-QoL) i sundhedsvæsenet". Bladet SÅR, 27(1), 60-61.