In general, would you say your health is....(circle one number)
| Excellent | |
| Very good | |
| Good | |
| Fair | |
| Poor |
Score the number circled. If two consecutive numbers are circled, choose the higher number (worse health); if two non-consecutive numbers are circled, do not score. The score is the value of this single item only. A higher score indicates poorer health.
Tested on 1,129 subjects with chronic disease. N=51 for test-retest.
items |
Range |
Mean |
Deviation |
Reliability |
Reliability |
Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Study. Psychometrics reported in: Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, González V, Laurent D, & Lynch J, Outcome Measures for Health Education and other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1996, p.25.
This is an item used in the National Health Interview Survey. In a number of studies self-rated health has been found to be an excellent predictor of future health. This scale available in Spanish.
Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, González V, Laurent D, & Lynch J, Outcome Measures for Health Education and other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1996, pp.25,52-53.
Idler EL, & Angel RJ, Self-rated health and mortality in the NHANES-I epidemiologic follow-up study. American Journal of Public Health, 80, 1990, pp.446-452.
Schoenfeld DE, Malmrose LC, Blazer DG, Gold DT, & Seeman TE, Self-rated health and mortality in the high-functioning elderly: A closer look at healthy individuals; MacArthur Field Study of Successful Aging. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 49, 1994, pp.M109-M115.
U.S. Bureau of the Census, National Health Interview Survey. Washington DC: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 1985.
Ware JE Jr, Nelson EC, Sherbourne CD, & Stewart AL, Preliminary tests of a 6-item general health survey: A patient application; in AL Stewart & JE Ware Jr (Eds), Measuring Functioning and Well-Being: The Medical Outcomes Study Approach, Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1992, pp.291-303.
Wolinsky FD, & Johnson RJ, Perceived health status and mortality among older men and women. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 47, 1992, pp.S304-S312.
To download this scale and scoring instructions, right click the link below with your mouse and "Save as" to you hard disk or desktop (for Windows), or double click (Mac):