The international phase 4 validation study of the EORTC QLQ-SWB32: A stand-alone measure of spiritual well-being for people receiving palliative care for cancer

Abstract

The EORTC Quality of Life Group has just completed the final phase (field-testing and validation) of an international project to develop a stand-alone measure of spiritual well-being (SWB) for palliative cancer patients. Participants (n = 451)-from 14 countries on four continents; 54% female; 188 Christian; 50 Muslim; 156 with no religion-completed a provisional 36-item measure of SWB plus the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL (PAL), then took part in a structured debriefing interview. All items showed good score distribution across response categories. We assessed scale structure using principal component analysis and Rasch analysis, and explored construct validity, and convergent/divergent validity with the PAL. Twenty-two items in four scoring scales (Relationship with Self, Relationships with Others, Relationship with Someone or Something Greater, and Existential) explained 53% of the variance. The measure also includes a global SWB item and nine other items. Scores on the PAL global quality-of-life item and Emotional Functioning scale weakly-moderately correlated with scores on the global SWB item and two of the four SWB scales. This new validated 32-item SWB measure addresses a distinct aspect of quality-of-life, and is now available for use in research and clinical practice, with a role as both a measurement and an intervention tool.

Associations between sex, age and spiritual well‐being scores on the EORTC QLQ‐SWB32 for patients receiving palliative care for cancer: A further analysis of data from an international validation study

“…The other 31 items are scored from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much). Sum scores from the four QLQ-SWB32 scales and Global-SWB are transformed into scores from 0 to 100, with 100 as the best possible score (Vivat et al, 2017).…”

“…In the validation study, positive associations between being female and having a high score on the Relationship with Someone or Something Greater; between QLQ‐C15‐PAL and Relationship with Self, Relationships with Others and Existential; and between the WHO performance score and Relationship with Self, Existential and Relationship with Someone or Something Greater were identified. Furthermore, moderate positive correlations were found between QLQ‐C15‐PAL Global QOL and Existential and Relationship with Someone or Something Greater (Vivat et al, ).…”

“…The authors of this paper have recently completed a validation study of a measure of SWB for people receiving palliative care for cancer, the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-SWB32 (QLQ-SWB32). The study was conducted in a cross-cultural setting with collaborators from 4 continents, 14 countries, in 10 languages and included 451 participants (Vivat et al, 2012(Vivat et al, , 2017. The initial validation analysis of the QLQ-SWB32 identified four scales: Relationships with Others, Relationship with Self, Relationship with Someone or Something Greater, and Existential, plus a Global-SWB item.…”

“…The initial validation analysis of the QLQ-SWB32 identified four scales: Relationships with Others, Relationship with Self, Relationship with Someone or Something Greater, and Existential, plus a Global-SWB item. In the validation study, a broad-brush analysis of associations between socio-demographic, clinical and function data and the QLQ-SWB32 scales was conducted (Vivat et al, 2017). This paper reports on further analysis of that data and explores the associations in more depth.…”

Measuring Spirituality and Religiosity in Clinical Settings: A Scoping Review of Available Instruments

“…First the QRFPC25, a measure of religiosity and spirituality was validated and shown to be reliable in 156 people with neoplastic disease (Kouloulias et al 2017). In a larger study, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Group Spiritual Well-being-32 (EORTC QLQ-SWB32) was validated in 451 palliative care patients from 14 countries (Vivat et al 2017). …”