Evaluation of reliability and validity of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30, Albanian version) among breast cancer patients from Kosovo

Abstract

Patients and methodsA sample of breast cancer patients (n=62 women) were interviewed for the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) in Albanian. Reliability of the questionnaire was considered acceptable if Cronbach’s alpha was ≥0.70. Item convergent-discriminant validity was tested through multitrait scaling analysis. Construct validity was tested under the hypotheses that QLQ-C30 interscale correlations would have an acceptable value of ≥0.40 and as well as by known group comparisons assessing differences of patient subgroups with reference to disease stage and education level.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 50 years (standard deviation: 10.9 years). Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.54 for the cognitive functioning scale to 0.96 for the global health quality of life (GH/QoL) scale. In multitrait scaling analysis, the strength of Spearman’s correlations between an item and its own subscale was ≥0.40, with the exception of item 5 (ρ=0.22); results for item discriminant validity were satisfactory, with the exception of item 5, which showed higher correlation with other subscales than with its own physical functioning. The Spearman’s interscale coefficients generally were correlated with each other. Results of known group comparisons did not show significant differences in terms of disease stage. Regarding education level, patients with high school/university education had better functional scales scores only in certain subscales compared to other subgroups; furthermore, patients with secondary school education had better GH/QoL compared to other subgroups of patients.ConclusionThe EORTC QLQ-C30 (v3.0) in Albanian was found to be valid and reliable for women with breast cancer and could be considered as a starting point for further evaluation study.

Reliability and Validity of Amharic Version of EORTC QLQ-C 30 Questionnaire among Gynecological Cancer Patients in Ethiopia

“…Multi-trait scaling analysis was used to test the convergent and item discriminant validity of the EORTC QLQ-C30. Convergent validity was revealed if the item domain correlation was ≥ 0.40[ 15 , 16 ], while the requirements for discriminant validity were satisfied if the value of correlation coefficients between the item and its own domain was higher than other domains[ 16 ]. Known-groups validity was evaluated by comparing groups with a clinically evident difference using an independent t-test.…”

Quality of life in patients treated for anal carcinoma—a systematic literature review

“…QLQ-C30, a generic cancer instrument, has previously been validated numerous times for different cancer cohorts [19,20] in different countries and cultures [21][22][23][24], as well as for patients with curable and palliative disease. QLQ-C30 contains 30 items, 5 multi-item functional scale (physical, role, emotional, cognitive and social functioning), 6 single-item symptom scale (including fatigue, nausea/vomiting, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation diarrhoea and financial difficulties) and a multi-item named global health score measuring the overall physical condition and general QoL.…”

An assessment of reliability and validity of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 among breast cancer patients in Qatar

“…[ 5 6 7 ] It is the most frequently used outcome measure in oncology research. [ 9 ] The most commonly used QOL tool in oncology is the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). [ 9 10 11 ] In Qatar, there is very little information available about the QoL of cancer patients.…”