Development and validation of the Headache Needs Assessment (HANA) survey

Objective.-To develop and validate a brief survey of migraine-related quality-of-life issues. The Headache Needs Assessment (HANA) questionnaire was designed to assess two dimensions of the chronic impact of migraine (frequency and bothersomeness). Methods.-Seven issues related to living with migraine were posed as ratings of frequency and bothersomeness. Validation studies were performed in a Web-based survey, a clinical trial responsiveness population, and a retest reliability population, Headache characteristics (eg, frequency, severity, and treatment), demographic information, and the Headache Disability Inventory were used for external validation, Results.-The HANA was completed in full by 994 adults in the Web survey, with a mean total score of 77.98 +/- 40.49 (range, 7 to 175), There were no floor or ceiling effects. The HANA met the standards for validity with internal consistency reliability (Cronbach alpha = .92, eigenvalue for the single factor = 4.8, and test-retest reliability = 0.77), External validity showed a high correlation between HANA, and Headache Disability Inventory total scores (0.73, P<.0001), and high correlations with disease and treatment characteristics. Conclusions.-These data demonstrate the psychometric properties of the HANA, The brief questionnaire may be a useful screening tool to evaluate the impart of migraine on individuals. The two-dimensional approach to patient-reported quality of life allows individuals to weight the impact of both frequency and bothersomeness of chronic migraines on multiple aspects of daily life.