Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to test the reliability, psychometric, and clinical validity of the use of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain (FACT-Br) in patients with brain metastases. Methods: Patients with brain metastases were interviewed using the FACT-Br (including the FACT-general) 1 week prior to treatment. All patients completed a follow-up assessment 1 month post-treatment. Patients with a good performance status and receiving stereotactic radiosurgery completed an additional 1 week follow-up assessment after the initial baseline interview to assess test-retest reliability. Results: Forty patients had complete 1 month follow-up data. Ten of these patients also completed the 1 week follow-up assessment from baseline. The median Karnofsky performance status of patients was 80 and the median age was 64 years. All subscales of the FACT-Br were found to be conceptually related (except for two correlations) using the following subscales: physical well-being (PWB), social/family well-being (SWB), emotional well-being (EWB), functional well-being (FWB), FACT-G total score, brain cancer subscale (BrC), and the FACT-Br total score. All FACT-Br scores demonstrated excellent reliability, except for the SWB scale which revealed good reliability. The FACT-Br scores showed no significant change in the quality of life (QoL) of patients from baseline to 1 month follow-up. Conclusion: The use of the combined FACT-G and FACT-Br Subscale to assess QoL specifically in patients with brain metastases has successfully undergone psychometric validation. Future clinical trials should use the FACT-G and FACT-Br Subscale to assess QoL in this patient population.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1017-1028 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Supportive Care in Cancer |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2014 |
Funding
Acknowledgments We thank the generous support of the Bratty Family Fund, Michael and Karyn Goldstein Cancer Research Fund, Joseph and Silvana Melara Cancer Research Fund, and the Ofelia Cancer Research Fund.
Keywords
- Brain metastases
- FACT-Br
- FACT-G
- Field-testing
- Psychometric validation
- Quality of life
- Questionnaire
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology