The SF-12v2™ Health Survey is a 12-item subset of the SF-36v2™ that measures the same eight domains of health.
As a brief, reliable measure of overall health status, the SF-12v2 is the instrument of choice in large population health
surveys and has been used extensively as a screening tool. Because of its brevity, it is frequently embedded in longer,
condition-specific surveys.
Adapted for use in more than 36 countries
and yielding physical and mental component summary measure scores that are comparable to those from the SF-36v2 in both
general and disease-specific populations, the SF-12v2 Health Survey was developed by QualityMetric to improve on the SF-12®
in scoring, item construction, and survey layout. Of particular note, SF-12v2 Health Survey offers:
- Scoring algorithms for each of the eight health domains
- Integration of norm-based scoring
- Scales that cover a much wider range
The SF-12v2 can be self-administered or given by a trained interviewer in person or by telephone to persons ages 14
and older and usually takes two to three minutes to complete. Most of the items in the survey ask respondents
to consider a specific period of time, or recall period, when responding. The SF-12v2 is available in a standard
form that uses a four-week recall period, and an acute form that uses a one-week recall period.
Of note, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has been using the SF-12 Health Survey, and most recently
adopted the SF-12v2 Health Survey, to measure health status in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The data
collected through MEPS include, but are not limited to, specific health services used by the general population, the
frequency of use, and the cost of those services. This survey effort produces data on a nationally representative sample
of roughly 15,000 people from the general US population annually, useful in developing models to predict medical
expenditures and use of health care services with the scores of the SF-12v2 Health Survey.
