The development and validation of a quality-of-life questionnaire for head and neck cancer patients with enteral feeding tubes: the QOL-EF.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a questionnaire that measures the impact of enteral feeding tubes (EFTs) on the quality of life (QOL) of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients


METHODS
The development of the questionnaire (QOL-EF) was done in four phases. Phase 1-3 included: (1) literature review and consultation with an expert focus group (item generation), (2) pilot-testing in 12 patients and, (3) judgmental item reduction. In phase 4, the QOL-EF, FACT-H&N, and UW-QOL were administered to a cross-sectional group of HNC patients on active EFT feeding to test the reliability and validity of the QOL-EF.


RESULTS
A 20-item QOL-EF was developed. In phase 4, 72 patients were accrued over 2.5 years, 31 of which were part of the test-retest subgroup. Cronbach's α for the QOL-EF was 0.73, and test-retest reliability was 0.83. Moderate correlations were observed between scores for the QOL-EF and both the FACT-H&N (-0.58) and the UW-QOL (-0.42).


CONCLUSIONS
The QOL-EF is a treatment-specific QOL instrument developed and validated for use in HNC patients with EFTs. It may become an important tool in evaluating treatment outcomes and complications in these patients.
Stevens
Christiaan Seimeon Michael
CS
Department of Radiation Oncology Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network and University of Toronto, 610 University Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 2M9.
Lemon
Betty
B
Lockwood
Gina A
GA
Waldron
John N
JN
Bezjak
Andrea
A
Ringash
Jolie
J
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004750:Enteral Nutrition / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult