The Cochrane Collaboration, launched in 1993, is an international organization that aims to help people to make well-informed decisions about health care by preparing, maintaining, and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of health care interventions.
Considering that the evaluation of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and that the problems it poses might serve the objectives of the Cochrane Collaboration, in 1997 the MAPI Institute proposed the creation of an HRQoL Methods Group (MG) within the Cochrane Collaboration. In the beginning of 2005, the Methods Group Representatives of the Monitoring and Registration Group of the Cochrane Collaboration approved the change of name from "Health Related Quality of Life Methods Group" to the "Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Methods Group.
The PRO MG is currently convened jointly by Prof. Donald Patrick (University of Washington, Seattle, USA) and Prof. Gordon Guyatt (McMaster University Health Sciences, Canada). The Group has 38 active members in 12 countries around the world.

The objective of the Group is to advise Cochrane reviewers about when and how to incorporate PRO data into systematic reviews of health care interventions.

In order to achieve this objective, the Group is divided into three main subgroups:

Concepts and Methods Review,
Review Design,
Analysis.

For more information about the Cochrane PRO Methods Group and if you wish to join: www.cochrane-pro-mg.org