Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T13:40:17.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL for patients with advanced cancer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Hanife Ozcelik*
Affiliation:
Zubeyde Hanim School of Health, Nigde University, Nigde, Turkey
Yasemin Guzel
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey
Esra Sonmez
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey
Fatma Aksoy
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey
Ruchan Uslu
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Hanife Ozcelik, Zubeyde Hanim School of Health, Nigde University, 51100, Nigde, Turkey. E-Mail:hanifeozcelik@hotmail.com.

Abstract

Objective:

Assessing quality of life, which is the main focus of palliative care, is highly important. The number of available, specific, simple, and valid assessment instruments for patients with advanced cancer in Turkey is limited. The aim of our study was to perform a psychometric evaluation of the Turkish version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire–Core 15–PAL (EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL).

Method:

The study was conducted in İzmir with patients who had received treatment in the palliative care unit of a university hospital between November of 2011 and December of 2013. Sociodemographic and disease characteristics forms, the Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) Scale, and the EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL Scale were employed in order to gather data.

Results:

A total of 150 patients completed the study: 55.3% of participants were female, 80.7% were married, and the average age was 52.76 ± 14.55. The value of Cronbach's α in the analyses ranged from 0.93 to 0.98. Most questionnaire areas had low to moderate correlations with the others. The moderate correlations were between fatigue and physical function (–0.41) and between insomnia and emotional function (–0.53). Conversely, weak correlations were found between nausea/vomiting and appetite loss (0.31) and between insomnia and pain (0.22). KPS scores decreased, patient physical and emotional function were diminished, global QoL declined, and patients' symptoms became more frank.

Significance of results:

We concluded that the EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL is a valid and reliable tool to determine the quality of life of advanced cancer patients who are undergoing palliative treatment in Turkey.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aaronson, N.K., Ahmedzai, S., Bergman, B., et al. (1993). The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ–C30: A quality-of-life instrument for use in international clinical trials in oncology. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 85, 365376.Google Scholar
Ahmedzai, S.H, Costa, A., Blengini, C., et al. (2004). A new international framework for palliative care. European Journal of Cancer, 40, 21922200.Google Scholar
Alawneh, A., Yasin, H., Khirfan, G., et al. (2015). Psychometric properties of the Arabic version of EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL among cancer patients in Jordan. Supportive Care in Cancer, Dec 11. Epub ahead of print.Google Scholar
Arraras, J.I., de la Vega, FA., Asin, G., et al. (2014). The EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL questionnaire: Validation study for Spanish bone metastases patients. Quality of Life Research, 23(3), 849855.Google Scholar
Caissie, A., Culleton, S., Nguyen, J., et al. (2012). EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL quality of life scores in patients with advanced cancer referred for palliative radiotherapy. Supportive Care in Cancer, 20, 841848.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cronbach, L.J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297334.Google Scholar
European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Group (EORTC) (2005). EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL. Available from http://groups.eortc.be/qol/eortc-qlq-c15-pal.Google Scholar
Granda-Comeron, C., Viyola, S.R., Linch, M.P., et al. (2007). Measuring patient-oriented outcomes in palliative care: Functionality and quality of life. Clinical Journal Of Oncology Nursing, 12, 112.Google Scholar
Groenvold, M., Petersen, M.A., Aaronson, N.K., et al. (2006 a). EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL: The new standard in the assessment of health-related quality of life in advanced cancer? Palliative Medicine, 20(2), 5961.Google Scholar
Groenvold, M., Petersen, M.A., Aaronson, N.K., et al. (2006 b). The development of the EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL: A shortened questionnaire for cancer patients in palliative care. European Journal of Cancer, 42, 5564.Google Scholar
Guzelant, A., Goksel, T., Ozkok, S., et al. (2004). The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ–C30: An examination into the cultural validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the EORTC QLQ–C30. European Journal of Cancer Care, 3(2), 135144.Google Scholar
Jocham, H.R., Dassen, T., Widdershoven, G., et al. (2006). Quality of life in palliative care cancer patients: A literature review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 15, 11881195 Google Scholar
Kaasa, S. & Loge, J.H. (2003). Quality of life in palliative care: Principles and practice. Palliative Medicine, 17, 1120.Google Scholar
Karnofsky, D.A. & Burchenal, J.H. (1948). The clinical evaluation of chemotherapeutic agents in cancer. In Evaluation of chemotherapeutic agents. McLeod, C.M. (ed.), pp. 199205. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lien, K., Zeng, L., Nguyen, J., et al. (2011). Comparison of the EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL and the FACIT–Pal for assessment of quality of life in patients with advanced cancer. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research, 11(5), 541547.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miyashita, M., Wada, M., Morita, T., et al. (2015). Independent validation of the Japanese version of the EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL for patients with advanced cancer. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 49(5), 953959.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miyazaki, K., Suzukamo, Y., Shimozuma, K., et al. (2012). Verification of the psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 palliative (EORTC–QLQ–C15–PAL). Quality of Life Research, 21(2), 335340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunes, N.A.H. (2014). The quality of life of Brazilian patients in palliative care: Validation of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 PAL (EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL). Supportive Care in Cancer, 22(6), 15951600.Google Scholar
Rummans, T.A., Clark, M.M., Sloan, J.A., et al. (2006). Impacting quality of life for patients with advanced cancer with a structured multidisciplinary intervention: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 24(4), 635642.Google Scholar
Shin, D.W., Choi, J.E., Miyashita, M., et al. (2011). Cross-cultural application of the Korean version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire–Core 15–Palliative Care. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 41(2), 478484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Soni, M.K. & Cella, D. (2002). Quality of life and symptom measures in oncology: An overview. The American Journal of Managed Care, 8(18), 561573.Google Scholar
Suárez-del-Real, Y., Allende-Pérez, S., Alférez-Mancera, A., et al. (2011). Validation of the Mexican-Spanish version of the EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL questionnaire for evaluation of health-related quality of life in patients on palliative care. Psycho-Oncology, 20(8), 889896.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tabachnik, B.J. & Fidell, L.S. (1993). Using multivariate statistics. London: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Zhang, L., Wang, N., Zhang, J., et al. (2015). Cross-cultural verification of the EORTC QLQ–C15–PAL questionnaire in mainland China. Palliative Medicine, 30(4), 401408.Google Scholar
Zimmermann, C., Riechelmann, R., Krzyzanowska, M., et al. (2008). Effectiveness of specialized palliative care: A systematic review. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 299(14), 16981709.Google Scholar