title: Efficient assessment of the most important symptoms in advanced prostate cancer: the NCCN/FACT-P Symptom Index.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Owing to the spectrum of symptoms, side effects, and concerns in clinically advanced prostate cancer (PC), effective symptom assessment is imperative. In line with recent regulatory guidance on the development of patient-reported outcomes, we undertook a multistep/multistudy approach to develop and test a new symptom index (NCCN FACT-Prostate Symptom Index-17 that can be used to examine the effectiveness of noncurative treatments in advanced PC.
  
  
  METHODS
  This included significant input from two waves of expert medical providers (n=66 and 11, respectively) and two waves of patient engagement and testing (n=50 and 24, respectively). The resulting 17-item symptom index for advanced PC was then divided into sets or categories based on whether the symptoms are predominantly disease or treatment related.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Preliminary reliability estimates suggest good internal consistency (α=0.86) and relationships with expected outside validity criteria are moderate to strong.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This new tool may help clinicians and researchers quickly target and measure important symptoms and concerns in advanced PC, leading to increased knowledge of treatment effectiveness of noncurative therapies and improvements in the quality of patient care. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA. d-victorson@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Victorson
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Beaumont
authors.forename: Sarah K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Rosenbloom
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shevrin
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cella
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005221:Fatigue; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders; D015431:Weight Loss