Given the number of new cancer cases diagnosed each year and the increases in survival rates, the importance of having a clinically useful health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instrument has increased. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) is one such instrument that has been used worldwide to assess HRQOL. Previously, the use of the FACT-G had been limited because of a lack of published normative data. Normative data are useful for consumers to place their results in an appropriate context by comparing their scores of individuals or group of individuals to a reference group. Here, we present normative data for the FACT-G for two reference groups: (a) a sample of the general U.S. adult population and (b) a large, heterogeneous sample of adult patients with cancer. In addition, we demonstrate various uses of the normative data.

The FKSI-DRS is a reliable, valid, and responsive brief index of the most important symptoms associated with advanced kidney cancer.

A longitudinal study of first-year college students and seniors was conducted in order to investigate the relationships between parental separation anxiety and adolescent identity development. Data was collected from mothers, fathers, and adolescents in the autumn and again in the spring. Mothers and fathers completed the parental separation anxiety questionnaire with two subscales, Comfort with Secure Base Role, and Anxiety about Adolescent Distancing. Their adolescent children completed the Revised Extended Version of the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOM-EIS). From hierarchical multiple regressions controlling for Time 1 identity, it appears that mothers’ sense of providing a secure base for their adolescents in college influences their adolescents’identity achievement, whereas fathers’anxiety about distancing has both negative and positive consequences for their adolescents’foreclosure depending on the gender of the adolescent.

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One of the greater criticisms noted in the field of marriage and family therapy (MFT) research is the lack of clear and concise definitions, concepts, and treatment protocols. Given this, the field of MFT would benefit from research methodology to assist in the understanding of areas of previous confusion or dissension. This paper argues for the application of Delphi studies to serve this occasion. A description of the methodology of the Delphi and a discussion of Delphi studies implemented in MFT research literature are presented. Recommendations for the use of the Delphi in the field of MFT are highlighted.One of the greatest criticisms noted in the field of marriage and family therapy (MFT) research is the lack of clear and concise definitions, concepts, and treatment protocols. Pinsof and Wynne (1995) provided an overview, conclusions, and recommendations for the efficacy of MFT research and practice. They concluded that many studies failed to clearly define the problem under investigation. Researchers tended to equate constructs such as marital conflict and marital distress, whereas others considered these as two distinct constructs. Furthermore, little agreement between diagnostic classifications, such as between drug abuse and drug addiction, were noted.The struggles with evaluating the treatment of MFT was another concern noted by Pinsof and Wynne (1995). The problem is identified when looking at therapy "through the lens of the therapeutic approach under investigation and missing critical processes that influence outcome but do not fall with the purview of the approach's theory of the limited categories of the adherence ratings" (p. 606). Although MFT was found to be more beneficial and cost-effective than standard or individual treatments for some problems,

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