SF-36 Score (Short Form Health Survey)
Evaluates quality of life and disease severity in different chronic conditions.
Refer to the text below the score for more information on its 8 subscales and scoring method.
The Short Form-36 health survey is one of the most widely used measures of health that assess quality of life, disease severity and help discriminate between different chronic conditions.
One of the main populations is patients with multiple sclerosis. This is a structured, self-report questionnaire that takes around 10 minutes to complete.
The SF-36 consists of 36 items – that are grouped in 8 subscales or domains:
- Physical functioning (10 items);
- Role limitations due to physical health (4 items);
- Role limitations due to emotional problems (4 items);
- Energy/fatigue;
- Emotional well-being;
- Social functioning (2 items);
- Pain (2 items);
- General health.
Aggregate scores for each domain range from 0 to 100, compiled as a percentage – where the higher the score, the more favourable the health state.
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SF-36 Score Explained
The Short Form-36 health survey is one of the most widely used measures of health that assess quality of life, disease severity and help discriminate between different chronic conditions. One of the main populations is patients with multiple sclerosis. This is a structured, self-report questionnaire that takes around 10 minutes to complete.
The SF-36 consists of 36 items – that are grouped in 8 subscales or domains:
- Physical functioning (10 items);
- Role limitations due to physical health (4 items);
- Role limitations due to emotional problems (4 items);
- Energy/fatigue (4 items);
- Emotional well-being (5 items);
- Social functioning (2 items);
- Pain (2 items);
- General health (5 items).
In order to score the SF-36, items must be recoded, as per the below table:
SF-36 Items | Item recoding for scoring | |||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
1, 2, 20, 22, 34, 36 | 100 | 75 | 50 | 25 | 0 | - |
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 | 0 | 50 | 100 | - | ||
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 | 0 | 100 | - | |||
21, 23, 26, 27, 30 | 100 | 80 | 60 | 40 | 20 | 0 |
24, 25, 28, 29, 31 | 0 | 20 | 40 | 60 | 80 | 100 |
32, 33, 35 | 0 | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | - |
Aggregate scores for each domain range from 0 to 100, compiled as a percentage – where the higher the score, the more favourable the health state.
Domain | SF-36 items | Formula |
Physical functioning | 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 | Sum of recoding points / 10 |
Role limitations due to physical health | 13, 14, 15, 16 | Sum of recoding points / 4 |
Role limitations due to emotional problems | 17, 18, 19 | Sum of recoding points / 3 |
Energy/fatigue | 23, 27, 29, 31 | Sum of recoding points / 4 |
Emotional well-being | 24, 25, 26, 28, 30 | Sum of recoding points / 5 |
Social functioning | 20, 32 | Sum of recoding points / 2 |
Pain | 21, 22 | Sum of recoding points / 2 |
General health | 1, 33, 34, 35 36 | Sum of recoding points / 5 |
In a multiple sclerosis population, the Cronbach's alphas for the various subscales of the SF-36 range from .67 to .94.
The score was originally published by Ware and Sherbourne in 1992 and have since been reiterated in several versions and translations.
The SF-36 items are part of the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life Inventory (MSQLI), as well as the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 (MSQOL-54).
References
Original reference
Ware JE Jr, Sherbourne CD. The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care. 1992; 30(6):473-483.
Other references
Hays RD, Sherbourne CD, Mazel RM. The RAND 36-Item Health Survey 1.0. Health Econ. 1993; 2(3):217-227.
Laucis NC, Hays RD, Bhattacharyya T. Scoring the SF-36 in Orthopaedics: A Brief Guide. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2015; 97(19):1628-1634.
Specialty: Disability
Abbreviation: SF-36
Article By: Denise Nedea
Published On: July 22, 2020 · 12:00 AM
Last Checked: July 22, 2020
Next Review: July 22, 2025