PROMIS: Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System

Jason Madrano's picture
Submitted by Jason Madrano on Apr 16, 2014 - 2:36pm CDT

Resource Type: 
Tool

PROMIS® stands for Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System, which is a system of highly reliable, precise measures of patient–reported health status for physical, mental, and social well–being. PROMIS® tools measure what patients are able to do and how they feel by asking questions. PROMIS measures can be used as primary or secondary endpoints in clinical studies of the effectiveness of treatment, and PROMIS® tools can be used across a wide variety of chronic diseases and conditions and in the general population.

PROMIS® instruments use modern measurement theory to assess patient–reported health status for physical, mental, and social well–being to reliably and validly measure patient–reported outcomes (PROs) for clinical research and practice. PROMIS instruments measure concepts such as pain, fatigue, physical function, depression, anxiety and social function. PROMIS has constructed item banks (a collection of questions measuring the same thing that can be administered in short forms or adaptively through computerized adaptive testing). Short forms require 4–10 items; computerized adaptive testing require 3–7 items for more precise scores.

  • PROMIS measures are available for children and adults. PROMIS Pediatric self-report instruments are available for children ages 8-17 and parent proxy reports are available for children ages 5-17.
  • Most PROMIS instruments are available through Assessment Center or by contacting the PROMIS Statistical Center at help@assessmentcenter.net.
  • See sample questions from short forms on the ‘Sample Questions’ page.
  • Learn how PROMIS measures were "normed" and scored.
  • Read about the PROMIS perspective on universally-relevant vs. disease-attributed measures.

The PROMIS®Instrument Development and Psychometric Evaluation Scientific Standards provides clinicians and researchers with a set of standards that serve as the scientific foundation and guidance for the development and evaluation of PROMIS® item banks and instruments. The slide deck about this document provides a general overview of each of the standards.

PROMIS’ Instrument Maturity Model (updated May 2013) describes the stages of instrument scientific development from conceptualization through evidence of psychometric properties in multiple diverse populations.

Please go to the Assessment Center to register and access PROMIS instruments. The Assessment Center can be administered online or through an offline computer. You can download instruments from Assessment Center for paper–based administration or entry of information into other data collection platforms.

For a complete overview of the PROMIS Tool, please click here.

Author(s): 
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
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