title: Reliability and validity of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy General (FACT-G) in French cancer patients.
abstract: This report describes the reliability and validity of a French version of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - General (FACT-G) with a French sample of 493 cancer patients. The FACT-G consists of 27 items and four subscales: Physical (PWB), Functional (FWB), Social/Family (SFWB) and Emotional well-being (EWB). The study sample includes 64% with localized disease, 26% with metastases, 11% in remission, and 71% receiving radiation/chemotherapy. Internal consistency Cronbach alphas of the global FACT-G scale (0.90) and subscales (>0.75) are satisfactory (n = 126). Test-retest reproducibility is satisfactory for all subscales and the global scale (n = 87 to 93, r = 0.74 to 0.90). ANOVA models show that PWB differentiated between the three disease stages; the global FACT-G and FWB discriminated between patients with metastases and others with localized disease or in remission; EWB only discriminated between metastases and localized disease; while SFWB did not discriminate between groups at different stages of cancer. Only the PWB subscale discriminated between patients with no history from those receiving chemotherapy (p < or = 0.05). None of the scales discriminated between groups based on radiotherapy. These results may be useful in the design and interpretation of clinical trials involving French patients when the FACT-G is the outcome measure.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U537--Center for Health Economics and Administration Research, Le Kremlin Bicetre, France. nathalie.costet@ensai.fr
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Costet
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lapierre
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benhamou
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Le Galès
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000295:instrumentation; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014175:Translating