Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30)

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to analyze the internal structure of the EORTC QLQ-C30, to examine the validity and normative data for cancer patients. Method Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to explore the scale’s dimensionality and test for strong measurement invariance across sex and tumor site. All the analyses were based on a multicenter cohort of 931 patients who completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) and the EORTC QLQ-C30. Results Our findings indicate that the EORTC QLQ-C30 has acceptable psychometric properties and an internal structure that is well accounted for a bifactor model: a general factor that evaluates quality of life and a group factor that would analyze physical health that would be defined by physical function, role function, and fatigue. The result of the multi-group CFA revealed a strong invariance according to sex, tumor, and over time. Reliability of the EORTC exceeding 0.86 and the simple sum of the items of the scale was a good indicator of oncology patients’ quality of life. Both factors correlate closely with depression, anxiety, and psychological distress and are sensitive to change, especially the quality of life, with a significant decrease in the post-test. Conclusion The Spanish version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 proved to be a valid, reliable instrument to appraise quality of life in cancer patients. The normative data collected from this study may be useful for the early detection of initial symptoms of deterioration of quality of life in oncology patients.

Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Moroccan Version of the EORTC QLQ-CR29 in Patients with Colorectal Cancer

“…This is due to female patients experiencing rejection or fear of rejection by their sexual partners. This is consistent with the study in which 80% of patients reported that the reason for their inactive sexual life was their spouse's abdominal colostomy, which they found repulsive (Calderon et al, 2021;Souadka et al, 2015;Cakmak et al, 2010). However, it must be noted that measurement of the sexual function scale was imperfect, as many patients refused to respond to this part of the questionnaire due to the cultural stigma and shame attached to sexuality in Moroccan society.…”

“…The reproducibility of the questionnaires was studied among 25 patients in 1 to 2 weeks after the first assessment, good test-retest correlation was observed in all scale. The ICCs for each item ranged from 0.61 to 0.93 indicating good to excellent reproducibility (Calderon et al, 2021) the reliabilities of the items in the original study (ICCs > 0.55)were lower than ours. The other studies did not report test-retest reliability (Stiggelbout et al, 2016).…”

“…To date, the EORTC QLQ-CR29 has been translated into many languages and is used worldwide as one of the standard instruments in measuring the quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer (Kulis et al, 2016). Translations into Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Brazilian, Russian, Spanish, Malaysian and Turkish are now available (Magaji et al, 2019;Calderon et al, 2021).…”

Role of sex on psychological distress, quality of life, and coping of patients with advanced colorectal and non-colorectal cancer

“…For the symptom scales, the higher the score, the greater the symptom burden. In this sample α = 0.85[ 44 ].…”

Change in quality of life and psychological distress in patients with resected non-metastatic vs unresectable advanced cancer undergoing systemic treatment

“…The questionnaires completed are described below. All the questionnaires applied in the study have been validated in Spanish [25][26][27].…”