Quality of life in non-melanoma skin cancer--the skin cancer quality of life (SCQoL) questionnaire.
BACKGROUND
Disease-specific quality of life (QoL) questionnaires are increasingly used to provide patient-reported out-come measures in both malignant and non-malignant disease.


OBJECTIVE
To create, validate and test the psychometrics of the Skin Cancer Quality of Life (SCQoL), which was designed to measure health-related QoL in patients with non-melanoma skin cancer affecting any area and undergoing any therapy.


METHODS
The SCQoL was developed in a stepwise approach. Three pilot studies (testing content and face validity) and psychometric testing (scale structure, reliability, domains and known-groups validity, concurrent and convergent validity) were conducted. Rasch analyses were performed on the final questionnaire.


RESULTS
The initial 10-item questionnaire was reduced to 9 items following interviews and inter-item correlations. The nine item scale was confirmed by Item Response Theory (IRT) and internal consistency. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) was found for a single item, but the effect was small.


CONCLUSIONS
The final 9-item SCQoL is unidimensional and consists of 3 domains covering function, emotions and control. Furthermore there is one single global item. The total score range from 0 to 27. Higher score denote a greater impairment of the QoL.
Department of Dermatology, Roskilde Hospital, Health Sciences Faculty, University of Copenhagen, Roskilde, Denmark.
Gabrielle Randskov
GR
Vinding
Karl Bang
KB
Christensen
Solveig
S
Esmann
Anne Braae
AB
Olesen
Gregor B E
GB
Jemec
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires