title: Determining the understandability and acceptability of an oral mucositis daily questionnaire.
abstract: Oral mucositis research in children receiving anticancer therapy has been impeded by the lack of an acceptable, appropriate assessment scale. Some scales attempt to measure subjective symptoms associated with mucositis such as pain and difficulty swallowing. These types of patient-reported outcomes are gaining prominence in clinical trials because they capture the perspective of the patients in whom the intervention is designed to benefit. In mucositis research, very few patient-reported outcome measures have been developed. The aim of this study was to determine whether an adaptation of the adult-validated Oral Mucositis Daily Questionnaire is understandable and acceptable for use in the pediatric oncology/hematology population. Twelve subjects were asked to rate their opinion of understandability and acceptability of the adapted Oral Mucositis Daily Questionnaire. As a result of their comments, minor changes were made. Evaluation of the psychometric properties of this instrument can now be performed.
authors.affiliation: Dip Cancer Nursing, is at CHES, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. deborah.tomlinson@sickkids.ca
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Isitt
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Barron
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Judd
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gassas
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Naqvi
authors.forename: Lillian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sung
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D013280:Stomatitis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires