Health status measures have improved over time, benefiting from continued use and research which have resulted in enhancements
to both the science and technology of health outcomes surveys.
Based on the SF-36® Health Survey, long regarded as the world standard for patient-reported health outcomes assessment,
the SF-36v2™ Health Survey is a 36-item short-form survey that measures general health status. A practical and
reliable way to obtain important health outcomes data in a variety of settings, the SF-36v2 measures eight domains of health:
- Physical functioning
- Role limitations due to physical health (role-physical)
- Bodily pain
- General health perceptions
- Vitality
- Social functioning
- Role limitations due to emotional problems (role-emotional)
- Mental health
Adapted for use in more than 60 languages,
the SF-36v2 yields a score for each of these health domains, as well as summary scores for both physical and mental health and a
single health utility index. This survey 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 SF-36v2 Health Survey offers significant measurement improvements over the original SF-36 Health Survey including:
- Corrected deficiencies in the original SF-36 Health Survey
- Updated population norms
- Norm-based scoring that provides direct comparison among all SF™ Generic Health Surveys
- Substantially increased precision and range of the role-functioning scales
- Significant enhancements in item wording and format
The SF-36v2 Health Survey can be self-administered to persons ages 14 and older and can usually be completed in 5 to 10 minutes.
