Study on psychometrical characteristics of different scales among instruments measuring quality of life for patients with cancer / 肿瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective: To analyze the structure, reliability, validity and responsiveness of the six scales in the system of instruments measuring quality of life for patients with cancer (QLICP), which were developed to assess the quality of life for the patients with lung cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer and cervical cancer. Methods: By using a stylized method, six QLICP-scales for lung cancer, breast cancer, head & neck cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer and cervical cancer were developed. The quality of life of 692 patients with different tumors including lung cancer (n=85), breast cancer (n=186), head & neck cancer (n=133), stomach cancer (n=86), colorectal cancer (n=110) and cervical cancer (n=92) were measured. The reliability, validity and the responsiveness of the six scales were evaluated by calculating the Cronbach's α coefficient for the overall and each domain of the scale, calculating the test-retest reliability coefficient, and using exploratory factor analysis and the paired t-test. Results: All of the six scales in the system of QLICP have good structure and satisfactory psychometrics characteristics, which means that they have good reliability, validity and the tolerable responsiveness. Conclusion: The six special modules in the system of QLICP, including lung cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer and cervical cancer modules, can be used in combination with general module of QLICP as the instrument to assess the quality of life for patients with different cancers. Copyright© 2011 by the Editorial Board of Tumor.