title: Validation Study for the Brief Measure of Quality of Life and Quality of Care: A Questionnaire for the National Random Sampling Hospital Survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To monitor quality of life (QOL) for patients with cancer in a large population-based survey, we developed a short QOL and quality-of-care (QOC) questionnaire. To determine the validity and reliability of this new questionnaire for evaluating QOL in patients with cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatients and inpatients at National Cancer Center Hospital East were administered a questionnaire, including the following items-the short QOL and QOC questionnaire (physical distress, pain, emotional distress, walk burden, and need for help with self-care; perceived general health status; and satisfaction with medical care and treatment by doctor, communication with doctor, support by health-care staff other than doctor, care for physical symptoms such as pain, and psychological care), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G), the Cancer Care Evaluation Scale (CCES) for patients, and demographic and medical data. We then readministered the short QOL and QOC questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 329 outpatients and 239 inpatients completed the survey (response rates: 80% and 90%, respectively). Total Cronbach α for the short QOL and QOC questionnaire was 0.83 for outpatients and 0.82 for inpatients. Items of the questionnaire correlated with cancer-specific measurements, FACT-G, and CCES. Intraclass correlation coefficients for all items of the questionnaire were 0.79 and 0.89 in each setting. Items of QOL and QOC did not correlate with each other.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The validity and reliability of the short QOL and QOC questionnaire appear sufficient. This questionnaire enables continuous monitoring of patient QOL in large population-based surveys.
authors.affiliation: 1 Clinical Research, Innovation, and Education Center, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Megumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Psychiatry, Keio University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.affiliation: 3 Division of Nursing, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Kashiwanoha, Japan.
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Health Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: 5 Palliative and Supportive Care Division, Seirei Mikatahara Hospital, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.affiliation: 6 Center for Cancer Control and Information Service, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Health Science, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsunori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyashita
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010045:Outpatients; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: neoplasms; quality-of-care questionnaire; quality-of-life questionnaire; reliability; validity