title: Defining the content domain of quality of life for cancer patients with pain.
abstract: This study identified attributes that define the content domain of quality of life in a sample of 41 cancer patients with chronic pain. Patients were asked four open-ended questions about the meaning of quality of life, what contributes to a good or poor quality of life, and how pain influences quality of life. Content analysis of responses revealed three categories of attributes that embrace the quality-of-life content domain. The first category is physical well-being. It includes general functioning and disease/treatment-specific attributes. The second is psychological well-being. It includes affective-cognitive attributes, coping ability, meaning of pain and cancer, and accomplishment attributes of quality of life. The third is interpersonal well-being. It incorporates social support and social/role functioning attributes. Replications of the current study in other groups of patients may yield data to support a two-part, multidimensional quality-of-life instrument. A norm-referenced measure can be used to evaluate quality of life in terms of attributes that are salient regardless of the disease or treatment. A domain-referenced measure may be used to evaluate attributes whose salience is dependent on specific disease, treatment, or life events.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1702.
authors.forename: G V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Padilla
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ferrell
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rhiner
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support