The Japanese Version of the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire

Abstract

This Chapter summarizes quality of life (QoL) questionnaires for various types of cancer. Most of the patient-centered QoL measurement tools have been developed in English-speaking cultures. Thus, it has been a vitally important question whether or not these questionnaires could be used in other cultures – like African and Eastern countries – and cross a broad cultural divide. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life questionnaires (QLQ) were continuously developed and used since 1993 first in European countries and later on worldwide in international trials. Therefore, a standardized translation and cultural adaptation procedure was also developed by the EORTC Quality of Life Group (QLG) to respond to the international interest in non-English speaking countries and cultures. To date, the EORTC QLQ 30-item core questionnaire (QLQ-C30) has been translated and validated into more than 60 languages and its cancer site/type specific modules (e.g., Palliative care, Breast-, Cervix-, Head and Neck cancer etc.) are under further translation and validation process. Translations and cultural validations include all major Western, and many African and Asian languages. The aim of this Chapter is to give a brief account of the existing EORTC QLQ modules and their cultural validation (linguistic and psychometric validation) into Japanese language for use in cancer patients. We give an overview of the translation problems and different priorities of social issues between Western and Eastern – in our case Japanese – culture.