Development of a new multimedia instrument to measure cancer-specific quality of life in Portuguese-speaking patients with varying literacy skills

Carlos Eduardo Paiva*, Felipe Augusto Ferreira Siquelli, Gabriela Rossi Zaia, Diocésio Alves Pinto de Andrade, Marcos Aristoteles Borges, Alexandre A. Jácome, Gisele Augusta Sousa Nascimento Giroldo, Henrique Amorim Santos, Elizabeth A. Hahn, Gilberto Uemura, Bianca Sakamoto Ribeiro Paiva

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: To develop and validate a new multimedia instrument to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Portuguese-speaking patients with cancer. Methods: A mixed-methods study conducted in a large Brazilian Cancer Hospital. The instrument was developed along the following sequential phases: identification of HRQOL issues through qualitative content analysis of individual interviews, evaluation of the most important items according to the patients, review of the literature, evaluation by an expert committee, and pretesting. In sequence, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted (pilot testing, n = 149) to reduce the number of items and to define domains and scores. The psychometric properties of the IQualiV-OG-21 were measured in a large multicentre Brazilian study (n = 323). A software containing multimedia resources were developed to facilitate self-administration of IQualiV-OG-21; its feasibility and patients’ preferences (“paper and pencil” vs. software) were further tested (n = 54). Results: An exploratory factor analysis reduced the 30-item instrument to 21 items. The IQualiV-OG-21 was divided into 6 domains: emotional, physical, existential, interpersonal relationships, functional and financial. The multicentre study confirmed that it was valid and reliable. The electronic multimedia instrument was easy to complete and acceptable to patients. Regarding preferences, 61.1 % of them preferred the electronic format in comparison with the paper and pencil format. Conclusions: The IQualiV-OG-21 is a new valid and reliable multimedia HRQOL instrument that is well-understood, even by patients with low literacy skills, and can be answered quickly. It is a useful new tool that can be translated and tested in other cultures and languages.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number972
JournalSpringerPlus
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2016

Keywords

  • Development
  • IqualiV-OG-21
  • Low literacy
  • Multimedia
  • Quality of life
  • Validation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Development of a new multimedia instrument to measure cancer-specific quality of life in Portuguese-speaking patients with varying literacy skills'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this