AI Article Synopsis
- The study focuses on creating a questionnaire (QOL-EF) to assess how enteral feeding tubes affect the quality of life for head and neck cancer patients.
- The questionnaire was developed in four phases including expert consultations, pilot testing with patients, and validation against other quality of life measures, ultimately resulting in a 20-item tool.
- Results indicate the QOL-EF has good reliability (Cronbach's α of 0.73) and valid correlations with established quality of life questionnaires, suggesting its potential usefulness in evaluating the impact of treatments on patients.
Article Abstract
Purpose: To develop a questionnaire that measures the impact of enteral feeding tubes (EFTs) on the quality of life (QOL) of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients
Methods: The development of the questionnaire (QOL-EF) was done in four phases. Phase 1-3 included: (1) literature review and consultation with an expert focus group (item generation), (2) pilot-testing in 12 patients and, (3) judgmental item reduction. In phase 4, the QOL-EF, FACT-H&N, and UW-QOL were administered to a cross-sectional group of HNC patients on active EFT feeding to test the reliability and validity of the QOL-EF.
Results: A 20-item QOL-EF was developed. In phase 4, 72 patients were accrued over 2.5 years, 31 of which were part of the test-retest subgroup. Cronbach's α for the QOL-EF was 0.73, and test-retest reliability was 0.83. Moderate correlations were observed between scores for the QOL-EF and both the FACT-H&N (-0.58) and the UW-QOL (-0.42).
Conclusions: The QOL-EF is a treatment-specific QOL instrument developed and validated for use in HNC patients with EFTs. It may become an important tool in evaluating treatment outcomes and complications in these patients.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-010-0934-6 | DOI Listing |
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