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Short Form-36 (SF-36) Health Survey

Purpose: To use the Short-Form-36 (SF-36) as a general health survey instrument.

Description

The Short-Form-36 (SF-36) Health Survey was developed by Dr John Ware and was derived from the Rand Corporation's Medical Outcomes Study (MOS). It is used as a general survey of health status and an outcome measure in clinical practice. It can also be used together with disease-specific instruments for patient evaluation. The survey may be self-administered or may be completed by an interviewer.


 

There are 11 questions dealing with general health and daily activities with 36 responses.

 

Responses to 35 of the questions are divided into 8 "dimensions", while the response to question 2 indicates the change in health over the past year. A more favorable response is assigned a higher score.

Dimensions

No.

Items

Physical functioning

10

3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f, 3g ,3h, 3i, 3j

Role limitations

4

4a, 4b, 4c, 4d

Bodily pain

2

7, 8

Social functioning

2

6, 10

General mental health

5

9b, 9c, 9d, 9f, 9h

Role limitations due to emotional problems

3

5a, 5b, 5c

Vitality, energy or fatigue

4

9a, 9e, 9g, 9i

General health perceptions

5

1, 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d

 

Availability:

 

Dr Ware has formed a company for distributing the SF-36 called Quality Metric, Inc.

 

www.QualityMetric.com

401-334-8800

 

Some of the SF questions are available at amIhealthy.com

 


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Objective

ICD-10