title: Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCaW): an individualised questionnaire for evaluating outcome in cancer support care that includes complementary therapies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Descriptive and experimental evaluations of cancer support services require an outcome questionnaire that is valid, responsive to change, feasible and interpretable. This paper describes the development of such a tool.
  A validated individualised measure MYMOP was adapted and piloted in two centres, and a multidisciplinary research team used this experience to develop the new questionnaire, Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCaW). MYCaW requires participants to nominate one or two concerns and, using a seven-point scale, to score these concerns and their general feeling of wellbeing. The follow-up questionnaire also includes the open question 'Reflecting on your time with this Centre, what were the most important aspects for you?' INVESTIGATING VALIDITY: During 2003 the two centres administered MYCaW to all new patients, before and after a course of treatment. Patients nominated concerns that spanned physical, emotional and psychosocial concerns. For patients completing follow-up questionnaires (n=254 at the Cavendish Centre and n=267 at the Bristol Cancer Help Centre), the mean change (S.D.) for the first concern score was 2.9 (1.63) and 1.91 (1.58) for the second concern score 2.5 (1.73)/1.77 (1.96) and for the wellbeing score 1.4 (1.8)/0.61 (1.52), respectively. The open question collected valuable extra data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MYCaW is a questionnaire that is appropriate for the service offered, acceptable to patients, practitioners and researchers, and is responsive to change. Further validation work is planned.
authors.affiliation: MRC Health Services Research Collaboration, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR, UK. c.paterson@bristol.ac.uk
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manasse
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Peace
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome