ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is two-fold. First, an outline will be made of methods by which items on health status measures may be weighted for severity. Secondly, the method in which one of the most frequently used generic health status questionnaires, the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) (Hunt et al. 1986), was devised and the items weighted for severity will be described. It will be argued that the method of weighting the NHP is both complex and can lead to inaccuracies. The chapter will argue that simple weighting and scoring schemes may lose little in terms of accuracy over more complex systems and are essential if questionnaires of subjective health state are to become a part of routine evaluation.
