The development of PROQOL-HIV : an international instrument to assess the health-related quality of life of persons living with HIV/AIDS Duracinsky, M. Herrmann, S. Berzins, B. Armstrong, A. R. Kohli, R. /Le Coeur, Sophie Diouf, A. Fournier, I. Schechter, M. Chassany, O. HIV AIDS HAART quality of life health measurement instrument psychometrics Objectives: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important outcome in HIV/AIDS infection and treatment. However, most existing HIV-HRQL instruments miss important issues (eg, sleeping problems, lipodystrophy). They were developed before highly active antiretroviral therapy (pre-HAART), and in a single language. We sought to develop a contemporary HIV-HRQL instrument (PROQOL-HIV) in multiple languages that accounts for HAART treatment and side effects. This article details the 3-stage content validation phase of PROQOL-HIV. Methods: In stage 1, we developed a conceptual model of HIV-HRQL and questionnaire item bank from thematic analysis of 152 patient interviews conducted simultaneously across 9 countries. In stage 2, pilot items were selected by an expert panel to form the pilot instrument. Stage 3 involved linguistic validation and harmonization of selected items to form an equivalent instrument in 9 target languages. Results: Analysis of 3375 pages of interview text revealed 11 underlying themes: general health perception, social relationships, emotions, energy/fatigue, sleep, cognitive functioning, physical and daily activity, coping, future, symptoms, and treatment. Seven issues new to HIV-HRQL measurement were subsumed by these themes: infection fears, future concerns, satisfaction with care, self-esteem problems, sleep problems, work disruption, and treatment issues. Of the 442 theme-related items banked, 70 items met the retention criteria and formed the pilot PROQOL-HIV instrument. Conclusions: HIV patients across 11 countries attributed a wide range of physical, mental, and social issues to their condition, many of which were not measured by existing HIV-HRQL instruments. The pilot PROQOL-HIV instrument captures these issues, is sensitive to sociocultural context, disease stage, and HAART. 2012 text https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010055872 fdi:010055872 Duracinsky M., Herrmann S., Berzins B., Armstrong A. R., Kohli R., Le Coeur Sophie, Diouf A., Fournier I., Schechter M., Chassany O.. The development of PROQOL-HIV : an international instrument to assess the health-related quality of life of persons living with HIV/AIDS. 2012, 59 (5), 498-505 EN