QOL Technologies Ltd. partners with Mapi Research Trust for the management of their COAs

November 2024

Over the last 35 years, Professor Elizabeth Juniper has developed and validated both adult and paediatric Quality of Life Questionnaires for asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis, and a questionnaire and diary to measure Asthma Control. 

Her relationship with Mapi goes back more than 30 years, when Mapi was developing a rigorous linguistic validation methodology for COAs to ensure ease and accuracy of understanding as well as cultural validity. In 2015, in addition to their collaboration on translation and linguistic validation, Professor Juniper subcontracted to Mapi Research Trust the review and validation of all electronic migrations of her original paper questionnaires onto e-platforms.

Since the collaboration between QOL Technologies Ltd (Professor Juniper’s company) and Mapi Research Trust has been so successful for both cultural adaptations, and electronic validation and licensing, as a natural evolution, QOL Technologies Ltd has decided to subcontract to Mapi Research Trust the registration of all users and the distribution of the paper user packages*. 

*These packages not only include all validated paper versions of the questionnaires but also the instructions for administration, analysis and interpretation as well as the response cards for the interviewer-administered versions of the questionnaires.

Management and Use of QOL Technologies’ questionnaires

From 1st November 2024, all requests for use of QOL Technologies' questionnaires and diaries, user packages, cultural adaptation and linguistic validation, and electronic implementation shall be sent directly to Mapi Research Trust through the ePROVIDE™ platform. 

Submitting a request is completely free of charge and will ensure an optimal service. It does not commit you to purchasing a questionnaire.

1. Access the QOL Technologies’ questionnaires on ePROVIDE™.
2. Submit a request.
3. If you haven't registered yet, you'll be asked to sign up for free.
4. Complete the request form. You may attach documents if need be. 

All users (non-commercially funded academics and clinicians as well as commercial organisations) will receive the paper user packages (questionnaires, response cards, instructions and a list of relevant references) as e-files. For those unable to print these files, paper versions can be provided.

The paper (PDF) versions will continue to be provided free of charge to all non-commercially funded academics, students and clinicians. Commercial organisations will be required to pay a one-time user fee for each language of each user package. This fee will enable Mapi Research Trust to continue Professor Juniper's policy of providing non- commercially funded academics and clinicians user packages and advice by the trained Mapi Research Trust team free of charge.

Cultural adaptation and linguistic validation  of QOL Technologies’ questionnaires

In collaboration with Mapi Research Trust and ICON Language Services, All Professor Juniper’s questionnaires have been adapted into over 300 languages. ICON Language Services is the sole provider of all cultural adaptations and linguistic validations.  The copyrights of all these languages belongs to QOL Technologies Ltd.

All Professor Juniper’s questionnaires in all languages are copyrighted and owned by QOL Technologies Limited. The same will apply to all future translations. Electronic versions

Mapi Research Trust is the appointed contractor for the validation of QOL Technologies’ questionnaires on e-PRO devices, platforms and apps. In collaboration with Professor Juniper, Mapi Research Trust have developed e-Booklets for each questionnaire that  detail the standardised migration procedure.

Version control system

MRT will be responsible for maintaining the library of all QOL Technologies questionnaires, including source paper versions, translations and certificates, ensuring version control and working closely with their partner for linguistic validation, ICON Language Services, formerly Mapi Language Services, who has been the exclusive translator for QOL Technologies instruments for over three decades.

A note from Professor Juniper to all her COA users

“Sonia Bothorel and I have tried to cover all points about the transition. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. We want the transition to be as smooth as possible for you. The functioning of QOL Technologies remains very much the same (research and consultancy). The only change is the management, licensing and distribution of our questionnaires. This is to ensure that our questionnaires will continue to be available to whoever needs to use them in the future. We felt that MRT have the integrity and wherewithal to continue on our behalf.

 Any profits made by QOL Technologies Ltd will go to The Liz Juniper Charitable Foundation to be distributed to local charities supporting healthcare and environmental issues. These will be predominantly organisations that QOL Technologies Ltd has supported for over 25 years.”