title: Preliminary results of the generation of a shortened quality-of-life assessment for patients with advanced cancer: the FACIT-Pal-14.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Shortened quality-of-life (QOL) tools are advantageous in palliative care patients. Development of such tools begins with the identification of issues relevant to a population. The purpose of this study was to identify the most important items of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Palliative Care (FACIT-Pal) to create an abbreviated questionnaire for future palliative care trials.
  
  
  METHODS
  A convenience sample of patients and health care professionals (HCPs) assessed the relevance of each item of the FACIT-Pal and whether they would include the item in a final questionnaire. Patients and HCPs identified their top 10 most important issues and were asked whether items were inappropriate, upsetting, or irrelevant; a shortened questionnaire was generated from this input.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty patients and 56 HCPs participated. The median score in the Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) of patients was 70, and the majority of HCPs were radiation oncologists. The 46-item questionnaire was shortened to 14 questions, retaining several items from the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) as well as issues pertaining specifically to palliative care patients. Items within the emotional, physical, and functional well-being subscales were retained along with those for various symptoms including constipation, nausea, dyspnea, and sleep. No new content beyond what is covered by the FACIT-Pal was identified consistently by either HCPs or patients. Similarly, no item was consistently rated as being inappropriate, upsetting, or irrelevant in the 14-item questionnaire.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FACIT-Pal-14, a shortened 14-item questionnaire has been generated for the palliative care population. Future studies should complete psychometric validation of this instrument for the assessment of QOL in palliative care patients.
authors.affiliation: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bedard
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cella
authors.forename: Nemica
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thavarajah
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Liying
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Peckham
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Costa
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Beaumont
authors.forename: May
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsao
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Danjoux
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sahgal
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires