Assessing Physical Health

This chapter identifies fundamental issues in developing or evaluating existing measures to assess physical health. It reviews the research on the use of surveys to assess health behaviors, with a focus on factors that affect response formation and the accuracy of response. Next, the chapter focuses on conceptual issues around developing and evaluating measures of physical health. It further highlights the importance that psychometric and measurement theories play in evaluating existing scales and developing items. The chapter provides a brief exploration of some important context-based effects. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) generally proceeds from a framework based on five domains: cognitive, emotional, physical, behavioral, and social. The chapter focuses on two of these domains: physical and behavioral. It explores at a basic level the application and use of theories and techniques associated with developing or evaluating measures.