The SF-8™ Health Survey represents a major advance in the development of health outcomes assessments
that are comprehensive yet brief. With only eight items, it can be completed in one to two minutes.
Because it assesses each of the eight domains of health from the SF-36® Health Survey with a single
item, the SF-8 Health Survey works best in very large population surveys or other studies involving large
samples and group-level comparisons.
The eight questions included in the SF-8 Health Survey were selected from pools of empirically tested
items and are scored on the same norm-based metric as the SF-36 scales and summary measures. Scores
produced by the SF-8 Health Survey can be compared directly to those obtained with other SF Generic
Health Surveys.
Items in the SF-8 Health Survey ask respondents to consider a specific period of time, or recall period,
when responding. The SF-8 Health Survey is available in three forms: the standard form uses a four-week
recall, the acute form uses a one-week recall, and the 24-hour form asks respondents to consider the 24
hours immediately preceding the survey when evaluating their own health.
Norm-based scoring for the SF-8 Health Survey yields scores that are easy to interpret and allow for direct
comparison between scores on other SF™ Generic Health Surveys.
The SF-8 Health Survey can be self-administered, computer-administered, or given by a trained interviewer
in person or by telephone to persons ages 14 and older. It has been translated for use in
more than 30 countries.
It also has been adopted by federal agencies (e.g., the Department of Defense), leading polling organizations
(e.g., the Roper-Starch Worldwide Health Report), and industry sponsors of clinical trials and effectiveness
research (e.g., GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Searle).
