Development and validation of the system of quality of life instruments for cancer patients: breast cancer (QLICP-BR).
OBJECTIVE
To develop and validate a quality of life (QOL) instrument for patients with breast cancer, QLICP-BR, which is one of the system of QOL instruments for cancer patients in China.


METHODS
Using the programmed decision methods of instrument development, the quality of life instrument for cancer patients-breast cancer (QLICP-BR) with considering Chinese cultural background was developed, and evaluated on the data from 186 inpatients with breast cancer. The statistical methods used in this research included statistical description, Pearson correlation, factor analysis, and paired t test.


RESULTS
The test-retest reliability for the overall scale and five domains are all above 0.75. Internal consistency alpha for each domain is higher than 0.65 except social domain (0.58). Most correlation coefficients between each item and it's domain are above 0.60. The scores differences between pretreatment and post-treatment for overall scale, general module, physical domain, psychological domain and social domain have statistical significance.


CONCLUSIONS
The QLICP-BR is of good validity, reliability, and reasonable responsiveness, and can be used to assess quality of life for patients with breast cancer in China.
Wan
Chonghua
C
School of Public Health, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650031, China. wanchh@hotmail.com
Yang
Zheng
Z
Tang
Xueliang
X
Zou
Tianning
T
Chen
Dedian
D
Zhang
Dongmei
D
Meng
Qiong
Q
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult