Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to validate the Brazilian version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 PAL (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL) to be used in patients with cancer in palliative care.
Methods
One hundred four outpatients with advanced cancer were recruited in Hospital das Clinicas—University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Results
The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that Cronbach-α is ≥0.7 except for fatigue (α = 0.58). Convergent validity was shown by the correlation observed between the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL dimensions with the EORTC QLQ-C30, Brief Pain Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory. The EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL detected significant differences in the performance status, supporting known-group validity.
Conclusions
Our data show that EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL is a brief, useful, and valid tool for assessing the quality of life of Brazilian patients in palliative care.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
DeVita VT, Lawrence TS, Rosenberg SA (2011) Cancer: principles & practice of oncology: primer of the molecular biology of cancer. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins/Wolters Kluwer. 9TH
World Health Organization (2009) WHO Definition of Palliative Care. Acesso em: 04 jan 2012 Disponível em: http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en
Jemal A et al (2009) Cancer statistics, 2009 CA. Cancer J Clini 59(4):225–249
American Cancer Society (2009) Cancer Facts&Figures. Atlanta: American Cancer Society [periódico na internet] 2009. [acesso em 27 nov 2011] Disponível em: http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@nho/documents/document/500809webpdf.pdf
EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL (2006) the new standard in the assessment of health-related quality of life in palliative care? Letter to the Editor. A response to Echteld MA et al. Palliative Medicine; 20: 59_/61
Correia FR, De Carlo MMR (2012) de P Avaliação de qualidade de vida no contexto dos cuidados paliativos: revisão integrativa de literatura. Rev. Latino-Am. Enfermagem 20(2):[10 telas] mar.-abr
Groenvold M et al (2006) The development of the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL: a shortened questionnaire for cancer patients in palliative care. Eur J Cancer 42:55–64
Translations. European Organization for Research and Treatment http://groups.eortc.be/qol/eortc-qlq-c15-pal http://groups.eortc.be/qol/
Shin et al (2011) Cross-cultural application of the Korean version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 15-Palliative Care. J Pain Symptom Manag 41(2):478–484
Miyazaki K, Suzukamo Y, Shimozuma K, Nakayama T (2012) Verification of the psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 Palliative (EORTCQLQ-C15-PAL). Qual Life Res 21(2):335–340
Del-Real YS et al (2011) Validation of the Mexican–Spanish version of the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL questionnaire for the evaluation of health related quality of life in patients on palliative care. Psycho-Oncology 20:889–896
Karnofsky DA, Abelmann WH, Craver LF, Burchenal JH (1948) The use of nitrogen mustard in the palliative treatment of cancer. Cancer 1(4):634–656
Fayers GJ et al (2001) The EORTC QLQ C30 Scoring Manual, 3rd edn. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, Brussels
Aaronson N et al (1993) The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30: a quality-of-life instrument for use in international clinical trials in oncology. J Natl Cancer Inst 85(5):365–376
Beck AT, Rush AJ, Shaw BF, Emery G (1977) Terapia Cognitiva da Depressão, 9th edn. Porto Alegre, Artes Médicas
Gorenstein C, Andrade L (1998) Inventário de Depressão de Beck: propriedades psicométricas da versão em português. Rev Psiquiatr Clín 25(5):245–250
Cleeland C, Ryan K (1994) Pain assessment: global use of the Brief Pain Inventory. Ann Acad Med Singap 23(2):129–138
Ferreira KASL, Teixeira MJ, Mendonza TR, Cleeland CS (2011) Validation of brief pain inventory to Brazilian patients with pain. Support Care Cancer 19(4):505–511
Cronbach LJ (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika 16(3):297–334
Jöreskog KG, Sörbom D (2006) LISREL 8.80 for Windows [Computer Software] Lincolnwood. Scientific Software International, Inc., IL
Hair J, Anderson R, Tatham R, Black W (1998) Multivariate data analysis, 5th edn. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Boyle GJ (1991) Does item homogeneity indicate internal consistency or item redundancy in psychometric scales? Personal Individ Differ 12(3):291–294
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the physicians, nurses, and physical therapists from the Hospital das Clinicas, School of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo who helped us to enroll patients in our study.
Conflict of interest
None declared.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nunes, N.A.H. The quality of life of Brazilian patients in palliative care: validation of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 PAL (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL). Support Care Cancer 22, 1595–1600 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2119-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2119-1