Development and psychometric evaluation of a quality of life scale for Korean patients with cancer (C-QOL)

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a quality of life scale for Korean patients with cancer (C-QOL). METHODS: The C-QOL was developed and validated as follows; item generation, pilot study, and psychometric tests. A total of 337 patients diagnosed with stomach, liver, lung, colon, breast, or cervix cancer were recruited. The patients were asked to complete the preliminary questionnaire comprising the content-validated items, the SF-36, and the ECOG performance status. The obtained data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, multidimensional scaling (MDS), multitrait/multi-item matrix, ANOVA, t-test, and Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: Preliminarily twenty-six items were generated through content validity and a pilot study. Factor analysis and MDS extracted a total of 21 items with a 5-point Likert-type scale (C-QOL). The C-QOL included five subscales: physical status (6 items), emotional status (6 items), social function (3 items), concern status (2 items), and coping function (4 items). The C-QOL established content validity, construct validity, item convergent and discriminant validity, known-groups validity, reliability, and sensitivity. CONCLUSION: The Newly developed C-QOL is an easily applicable instrument which established psychometric properties and reflected Korean culture. It is recommended for further study to examine the responsiveness of the C-QOL using a longitudinal research design.