title: Multilingual translation of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT) quality of life measurement system.
abstract: There is need for multilingual cross-culturally valid quality of life (QOL) instrumentation to assess the QOL endpoint in international oncology clinical trials. We therefore initiated a multilingual translation of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT) Quality of Life Measurement System (Version 3) into the following languages: Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian and Swedish. Prior to this project, the FACT Measurement System was available in English, Spanish and Canadian French. The FACT is a self-report instrument which measures multidimensional QOL. The FACT (Version 3) evaluation system uses a 29-49 item compilation of a generic core (29 Likert-type items) and numerous subscales (9-20 items each) which reflect symptoms associated with different diseases, symptom complexes and treatments. The FACT-G (general version) and eight of 18 available cancer-related subscales were translated using an iterative forward-backward translation sequence. After subsequent review by 21 bilingual health professionals, all near final language versions underwent pretesting with a total of 95 patients in the native countries. Available results indicate good overall comprehensibility among native language-speakers. Equivalent foreign language versions of the FACT will permit QOL evaluation of people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Seattle, USA.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Bonomi
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Cella
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bjordal
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sperner-Unterweger
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gangeri
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bergman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Willems-Groot
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hanquet
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zittoun
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012803:Sick Role; D014175:Translating