The Short Form Health Survey (SF-12)

Description: A measure of perceived health (health-related quality of life [QoL]) that describes the degree of general physical health status and mental health distress [1].

Format: 12 items, derived from the physical and mental domains of the Short Form Health Survey-36 (SF-36).

Scoring: Norm-based. Separate summary scores are obtained for each of the physical and mental domains by summing across all 12 items for each. Higher scores indicate higher levels of health. Published data and norms for most health conditions in the general population have been reported for Canada and the USA.

Administration and Burden: Interviewer-administered; Self-administered. Approximately 3 minutes.

Psychometrics for SCI: In a study of veterans with SCI, the SF-12 was reported to have good discriminant function, convergent validity, and correlated strongly with the SF-36 [2].  However, a more thorough testing of its psychometric strengths is needed [2].

Languages: The SF-12 has been translated for use in over 40 languages.

QoL Concept: The SF-12 is a measure Health-Related QoL, which corresponds to Boxes B (societal standards and priorities) and C (achievements; health-related QoL) of Dijker’s Model.

Permissions/Where to Obtain: Copyrighted; The SF-12 can be purchased at the SF-36 website at: http://www.sf-36.org/.

**CLICK ON THE LISTED SECONDARY HEALTH CONDITIONS ON THE RIGHT TO READ HOW THE SF-12 HAS BEEN USED WITH A PARTICULAR CONDITION**

References:

1. Ware JE, Kosinski M, Keller SD. How to Score the SF-12 Physical and Mental Health Summary Scales. 2nd ed. Boston: The Health Institute, New England Medical Center; 1995.
2. Andresen EM, Fouts BS, Romeis JC, Brownson CA. Performance of health-related quality-of-life instruments in a spinal cord injured population. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1999;80:877-84.
3. Andresen EM, Meyers AR. Health-related quality of life outcomes measures. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2000;81:S30-S45.