Development of a disease specific questionnaire to supplement a generic tool for QoL in colorectal cancer

The need for disease‐specific quality of life measures is highlighted in the literature. The psychometric properties of a supplementary disease‐specific quality of life questionnaire developed for use with a generic Quality of Life tool in colorectal cancer patients are explored. Originally develope...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psycho-oncology (Chichester, England) England), 2003-10, Vol.12 (7), p.675-685
Main Authors: Davidson-Homewood, J., Norman, A., Küchler, T., Cunningham, D., Watson, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Colorectal cancer
Colorectal Neoplasms - psychology
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Factor structures
Humans
Patients
Psychometric properties
Psychometrics
Quality of Life
Questionnaires
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:The need for disease‐specific quality of life measures is highlighted in the literature. The psychometric properties of a supplementary disease‐specific quality of life questionnaire developed for use with a generic Quality of Life tool in colorectal cancer patients are explored. Originally developed and tested in a German sample, the English translation was tested on a cohort of UK colorectal cancer patients. Relevance and acceptability was previously established in Germany. A rigorous factor analysis ascertained the underlying structure of two factors with a number of single items that were retained as clinically important symptom indicators. In considering validity, four conditions were assessed: Reliability using Cronbach's alpha; Construct validity by comparing patient subgroups; Clinical Validity, by testing the hypothesis that some patient subgroups experience worse quality of life; Construct Reliability using second order factor analysis with the EORTC QOLQ‐C30 scales, confirming that the factors retained provide an excellent measure of physical discomfort and a good measure of physical well being. Two other such questionnaires were developed in parallel with this one and reported in the literature (FACT‐C and QOLQ‐CR38). However, this questionnaire provides a useful alternative tool for use in clinical trials of colorectal cancer treatments alongside a core QoL questionnaire especially when brevity is an important consideration. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1057-9249
1099-1611
DOI:10.1002/pon.684