EQ-HWB
Several years ago, researchers from the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with an international team of researchers from the EuroQol Group and other organisations, started a research project titled “Going beyond health-related quality of life – towards a broader QALY measure for use across sectors (E-QALY)”. The aim of this research project was to produce a self-reported outcome measure, suitable for use across health care and social care. The project has been jointly funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the EuroQol Research Foundation.
We are pleased to report that this project is nearing completion, with final study results expected in Q3 2021. The new instrument is titled EQ-HWB (EQ Health and Wellbeing instrument). EQ-HWB has been designed as a standardised measure of aspects of health and wellbeing and currently has 25 items. A short version has also been designed, called EQ-HWB-S (EQ Health and Wellbeing Short version), which currently has 9 items.
EQ-HWB is not intended to replace the EQ-5D. Instead, it is being developed as a different instrument, assessing a range of effects – including, but not limited to, impact on the health and wellbeing of care recipients and caregivers. In common with other EuroQol instruments, it is envisaged that the EQ-HWB-S will be accompanied by preference-weighted value sets to facilitate its use in the economic evaluation of health and social care.
Please note that for now, EQ-HWB is only available to research collaborators. In line with our current IP Protection Policy both versions of the EQ-HWB instrument have been given an Experimental Version status. At a later stage EQ-HWB will be made available for wider use via the EuroQol website as a Beta Version.
The Executive Committee of the EuroQol Group appointed the EQ-HWB Special Interest Group (SIG), as part of the Descriptive Systems Working Group, to oversee further development and testing of the instrument. Co-chaired by Simon Pickard and Clara Mukuria, this international group will coordinate EQ-HWB research with the aim to release both the long and short versions of EQ-HWB as final instruments in the near future.
EQ-HWB SIG
Current members of the EQ-HWB SIG are (EuroQol members are marked with an *):
| NAME | AFFILIATION |
| John Brazier* | Professor of Health Economics, ScHARR, University of Sheffield, UK |
| Dr Lidia Engel | Deakin University, Australia. |
| You Shan Feng* | Research Associate, Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Applied Biostatistics, Tübingen, Germany. |
| Aureliano Finch* | Scientist, EuroQol Research Foundation, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. |
| Dr Dominik Golicki* | Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland. |
| Claire Gudex* | Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, and OPEN – Open Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark |
| Narcis Gusi, PhD* | Professor, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, Caceres, Spain. |
| Ataru Igarashi* | Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo, Japan. |
| Yash Jalundhwala | Director, Global Market Access and Pricing, AbbVie. |
| Pall Jonsson, PhD | Associate Director Science Policy and Research, NICE, UK. |
| Maja Kuharic, MPharm, Msc | PhD Candidate. Department of Pharmacy, Systems, Outcomes and Policy, College of Pharmacy at University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA. |
| Ole Marten, MSc* | Bielefeld University, School of Public Health, Health Economics and Health Care Management, Germany. |
| Andréa L. Monteiro, MSc | PhD Candidate, Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. |
| Clara Mukuria* – Co-Chair | Research Fellow , University of Sheffield, UK. |
| Brendan Mulhern* | Associate Professor, Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. |
| Dr Bhash Naidoo | Senior Technical Adviser (Health Economics), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, UK. |
| Ahmed M.Y. Osman | Ph.D. Candidate, School of Pharmaceutical Science And Technology, and Center for Social Science Survey and Data, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China. |
| Dr Tessa Peasgood* | Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne, Australia. |
| Marta Pentek, PhD | Professor, Óbuda University, Health Economics Research Center, Budapest, Hungary. |
| Simon Pickard PhD* – Co-Chair | Professor, Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes, and Policy (PSOP), Co-Director, Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomic Research, Director of Graduate Studies, PSOP University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy, Illinois, USA. |
| Fredrick Purba, PhD* | Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia. |
| Dr Stacey Rand | Senior Research Fellow , Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent, UK. |
| James Shaw, PhD., Pharm.D., M.P.H. * | Lead, Patient-Reported Outcomes Research Worldwide Health Economics and Outcomes Research Bristol Myers Squibb, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA. |
| Zhihao Yang* | Associate Professor, Guizhou Medical University, China. |
EQ-HWB NAMING CONVENTIONS
In 2020, the EuroQol organisations went through a thorough process to select the best name for the new instrument that was created as part of the E-QALY project. Ultimately, the name EQ-HWB was selected by the Executive Committee and Board, after consultation with the E-QALY study team, the EuroQol membership and our brand registration company. Since then, the EQ-HWB name has been successfully registered as a brand name and a domain name.
The table below lists the EQ-HWB naming conventions. Please use these names in all communications (manuscripts, publications, email, news items, etc.).
The EQ-HWB instrument is currently designated as an Experimental Version. The naming conventions will be revisited by the Joint EuroQol Board & Executive Committee before the release of EQ-HWB as an Approved Version.
| TERM | DESCRIPTION |
| EQ-HWB | A standardised measure of aspects of health and wellbeing developed by researchers from the University of Sheffield and the EuroQol Group. EQ-HWB (currently) has 25 items. |
| EQ Health and Wellbeing instrument | The full name for the EQ-HWB instrument. This name can be used interchangeably with EQ-HWB. |
| EQ-HWB-S | The short version of EQ-HWB. The full name is EQ-HWB Short version or EQ Health and Wellbeing Short version. The EQ-HWB-S (currently) has 9 items. |
Please contact us if you would like to know more about the EQ-HWB instrument.