Quality of Life Subscale for Terminally Ill Cancer Patients. Abstract andExecutive Summary of Dissertation

摘要

The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-End of Life (FACT-EOL) was developedto assess the quality of life of cancer patients with a life expectancy of six months or less. Phase I of the study identified the major concerns of 74-terminally ill cancer patients (breast, lung, colorectal, renal cell, and prostate cancer) at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and at the Hospice at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. In Phase II, 120 patients rated the importance of these concerns for quality of life. In Phase III, 356 patients were interviewed to determine the subscale's reliability and sensitivity to change in clinical status. Internal consistency reliability was moderate to high spiritual (0.87), existential (.76), medical are (0.68), symptoms (0.67), social/family (0.66), and emotional (0.61). Concurrent validity was supported by the high correlation between the symptom domain and EORTC symptom scale (r=0.74). Patients who scored lower in functional status had lower scores in the spiritual, existential, social/family, and emotion domains. Patients who scored lower in functional status had higher scores in the symptom domain. The results of the study support the FACT-EOL's use in assessing quality of life and the outcomes of palliative treatment for terminally ill cancer patients.