What is the WHQ?
The WHQ is a 36-item questionnaire assessing nine domains of physical and emotional health rated on four point scales [1,2]. Partly because the WHQ was developed to evaluate changes experienced by women during the menopause transition it has been considered a ‘disease specific’ instrument. However, the questionnaire measures a range of domains of symptom experience, some of which are relevant to the menopause, such as vasomotor symptoms, and others which are associated with psychosocial factors, general health and or ageing, such as sleep and sexual problems and cognitive difficulties. Applications of the WHQ have been varied and range from the evaluation of hormone treatments for menopause related problems, to epidemiological studies with populations of healthy women. The WHQ is population specific in that it is applied to women only. Consequently the WHQ can also be considered to be a ‘generic’ QOL measure for these mid-aged populations.
