Instrument Overview
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.
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 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.
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.