title: Measuring health-related quality of life in leukemia: the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy--Leukemia (FACT-Leu) questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Develop and validate a health-related quality-of-life (measure for patients with acute and chronic leukemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study consisted of two phases: scale construction and scale validation. For the item-generation phase, a summary of the literature combined with qualitative results from item-generation interviews with 29 acute or chronic leukemia patients and 16 health care providers yielded an initial item pool reflecting leukemia-specific concerns and symptoms. Items underwent iterations of review and reduction according to defined retention criteria to support content validity, as defined by priority concerns of patients. Seventeen final leukemia-specific items were combined with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General to create the FACT-Leukemia (FACT-Leu) scale. For the validation phase, 79 individuals with acute or chronic leukemia completed questionnaires at three time points.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All FACT-Leu subscale and aggregated scores showed high internal consistency (αs ranging from 0.75 to 0.96). Test-retest reliability was adequate for all subscales (intraclass correlation range 0.765-0.890). The FACT-Leu scale demonstrated good convergent validity, with significant correlations with quality-of-life criteria and performance status, in the expected direction. FACT-Leu subscale scores were significantly different among the three performance status change groups, suggesting good responsiveness to change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FACT-Leu scale is a valid, reliable, and efficient measure of leukemia-specific health-related quality of life for acute and chronic disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. d-cella@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cella
authors.forename: Sally E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: Du
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hongyan
authors.forename: Jin-Shei
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: Martin S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Tallman
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yount
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D054928:Validation Studies as Topic