Validation of the Spanish Version of the Quality of Dying and Death Questionnaire (QODD-ESP) in a Home-Based Cancer Palliative Care Program and Development of the QODD-ESP-12.
Improving quality of death (QOD) is a key goal in palliative care (PC). To our knowledge, no instruments to measure QOD have been validated in Spanish.



The goals of this study were to validate the Spanish version of the quality of dying and death (QODD) questionnaire and to develop and validate a shortened version of this instrument by phone interview.



We enrolled caregivers (CGs) of consecutive deceased cancer patients who participated in a single PC clinic. CGs were contacted by phone between 4 and 12 weeks after patients' death and completed the Spanish QODD (QODD-ESP). A question assessing quality of life during last week of life was included. A 12-item QODD (QODD-ESP-12) was developed. Reliability, convergent validity, and construct validity were estimated for both versions.



About 150 (50%) of 302 CGs completed the QODD-ESP. Patient's mean age (SD) was 67 (14); 71 (47%) were females, and 131 (87%) died at home. CGs' mean age (SD) was 51 (13); 128 (85%) were females. Mean QODD-ESP score was 69 (range 35-96). Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.322, not supporting the use of factorial analysis to assess the existence of an underlying construct. Mean QODD-ESP-12 score was 69 (range 31-97). Correlation with last week quality of life was 0.306 (P < 0.01). Confirmatory factorial analysis of QODD-ESP-12 showed that data fitted well Downey's four factors; Chi-square test = 6.32 (degrees of freedom = 60), P = 0.394 comparative fit index = 0.988; Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.987, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.016 (95% CI 0-0.052).



QODD-ESP-12 is a reliable and valid instrument with good psychometric properties and can be used to assess QOD in a Spanish-speaking cancer PC population by phone interview.
Departamento Medicina Interna, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Programa Medicina Paliativa y Cuidados Continuos, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: peperezc@gmail.com.
Pedro E
PE
Pérez-Cruz
Departamento Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Oslando
O
Padilla Pérez
Programa Medicina Paliativa y Cuidados Continuos, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Pilar
P
Bonati
Departamento Pediatría, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Oliva
O
Thomsen Parisi
Unidad Cuidados Paliativos, Complejo Asistencial Dr. Sótero del Río, Servicio de Salud Metropolitano Sur Oriente, Puente Alto, Chile.
Laura
L
Tupper Satt
Unidad Cuidados Paliativos, Complejo Asistencial Dr. Sótero del Río, Servicio de Salud Metropolitano Sur Oriente, Puente Alto, Chile.
Marcela
M
Gonzalez Otaiza
Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Diego
D
Ceballos Yáñez
Departamento Medicina Interna, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Programa Medicina Paliativa y Cuidados Continuos, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Armando
A
Maldonado Morgado
D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003643:Death; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010166:Palliative Care; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014175:Translating
Quality of death; cancer; home care; palliative care; survey; telephone interview