Cross-cultural assessment of quality of life in South Africa using the ACSA (Anamnestic Comparative Self Assessment) instrument.

Aims: This joint research was conducted with Belgian research partners at the Free University of Brussels financed with a Flemish research grant. The Anamnestic Comparative Self Assessment (ACSA) measure of subjective well-being aims to reduce the problems of cultural bias and relativity to external standards by allowing people to define the endpoints or ‘anchors’ of the measurement scale. In medical terminology anamnestic denotes ‘based on memory’. ACSA uses subjects’ memories of the best and worst periods in their lives to define the anchors of the scale. They then assess their current quality of life relative to these personal anchors.

The study: This was the first time that the ACSA measure has been applied in South Africa. The pilot study was conducted among residents of Makana, half of whom were undergoing treatment for Tuberculosis. The South African pilot study tested the match between conventional measures of subjective well-being used in the South African Quality of Life Trends Study and ACSA. It also analysed the narratives of the best and worst times of life. It was observed that the starting point of the life stories produced by respondents to define the anchor periods for ACSA were related to their current assessment of personal well-being.

What we found: Based on the qualitative analysis of narratives, the researchers concluded that ACSA is a sensitive measurement instrument and therefore particularly useful for monitoring the effects of treatments and social interventions in longitudinal studies. However, further research is required to verify its cross-cultural validity.

Future research: Our Belgian research partners have launched an international project to take the study further. Their new research partners were recruited at the international quality-of-life conference hosted by ISER in 2006.

Researchers: Valerie Møller and Ida Erstad (ISER) and Belgian research partners Professors Jan Bernheim and Peter Theuns (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels).

Publication

Møller , V. Theuns, P. , Erstad, I., and Bernheim, J.

The best and worst times of life: Narratives and assessments of subjective well-being by Anamnestic Comparative Self Assessment (ACSA) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Social Indicators Research (online January 2008).