LINQ is a self-complete questionnaire that has measures the information needs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). LINQ can also be used for patients with some other chronic lung diseases. It is not suitable for patients with asthma.

The LINQ measures two types of information needs in patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): (a) the patient expresses a need for information, and (b) the patient indicates a behaviour for which there is evidence that this behaviour compromises self-management.

Note that research shows that patients often forget the information they are given. So, if patients report they have not been given information, this indicates an information need, even though the information may have been given before.

Note that the LINQ does not measure patient knowledge, but rather information needs. Clinicians may need to establish the details of patient knowledge once they have identified an information need, but doing so would be part of the clinical interview.

LINQ is designed to help clinicians identify which patients would be helped by information and the type of information an individual patient needs. This questionnaire can also be used to evaluate the impact of intervention, including pulmonary rehabilitation, for research and audit purpose.

The LINQ is freely available for clinical use and not-for-profit research. It can be downloaded from this site. We welcome comments by email about the experience of using the scale, and any data you care to share with us. We can add your comments to the website as well as details of any publications using the scale.

The idea for the LINQ arose from some focus groups we conducted to examine compliance in COPD. We found that patients reported high intentional compliance with medication, but that they were often unsure about many other aspects of self-management because they had not received information. We felt it would be useful to be able to measure information needs as a way of assisting these patients. It is easier to satisfy a need once it is identified, and a questionnaire could help clinicians identify information needs, for example, prior to a clinical interview. Research shows that doctor-patient communication is compromised by differences in language between health professionals and patients. Therefore we wanted to ensure that the language of the questionnaire would be that used by patients rather that used by clinicians. The method of scale development therefore was based on the idea that the patients were the experts with regard to questionnaire design, and that the patients should be involved in the design of the questionnaire.

The primary purpose of the LINQ is as a pre-interview assessment. However, the LINQ can also be used as an audit tool to assess the quality of education, and for this is can be used alongside knowledge questionnaires.