title: An international field study of the reliability and validity of a disease-specific questionnaire module (the QLQ-OV28) in assessing the quality of life of patients with ovarian cancer.
abstract: This study defines the psychometric properties of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life (QOL) questionnaire designed to measure the QOL of patients with ovarian cancer. The ovarian cancer module (EORTC QLQ-OV28) was developed to supplement the EORTC QLQ-C30. The core questionnaire and the QLQ-OV28 were prospectively administered to 368 ovarian cancer patients after they had been treated with radical or debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy. The QLQ-OV28 module assesses abdominal/gastrointestinal symptoms, peripheral neuropathy, other chemotherapy side-effects, hormonal/menopausal symptoms, body image, attitude to disease/treatment and sexual functioning. Questionnaires were well accepted by patients, baseline compliance rates were 86%, 72% provided a second assessment, less than 3% of the items had missing data. Multi-trait scaling analyses confirmed the hypothesised scales. All hypothesised scales exhibited good psychometric properties. These results support the clinical and psychometric validity of the EORTC QLQ-OV28 module as a supplement to the EORTC QLQ-C30.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 14, A-8036 Graz, Austria. greimele@kfunigraz.ac.at
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Greimel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bottomley
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cull
authors.forename: A-C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Waldenstrom
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arraras
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chauvenet
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Holzner
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuljanic
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lebrec
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: D'haese
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents