Patient acceptance and differential perceptions of quality of life measures in a French oncology setting

Abstract

A three-part study evaluated French cancer patients' acceptance of self-rated quality of life measures, the predictive value of these measures, and the agreement between patient and health provider ratings of patient quality of life. In part one, 93% of 137 patients indicated a willingness to complete the Qualite de la Vie-Questionnaire (QOL-Q) and Analogues Lineaires pour la Mesure de la Qualite de vie (LA), and 63.6% indicated a willingness to be interviewed by a psychologist. Willingness to complete the scales was related to hospitalization status and treatment modality. In parts two and three, 100 patients were asked to complete the QOL-Q, LA, the Karnofsky Index (KI) and a side-effects checklist, and to undergo a psychological interview. Following interview, a psychologist rated the patients using the QOL-Q, and classified patient level of emotional distress. Oncologists rated the patient using the KI and the side-effects checklist. The results indicate that the patients' ratings of their quality of life were higher than the psychologist's ratings, and that the QOL-Q has predictive value in identifying severe emotional distress. Low level of patient and physician agreement on the KI was partially explained by patient age and cancer site. A moderate level of agreement was found between patient and physician perceptions of side effects. The study suggests that the QOL-Q, not the LA, may be useful as a screening tool to identify patients with impaired quality of life, and that self-rated measures should be included in quality of life assessments.

Quality of life: patients and doctors don't always agree: a meta-analysis

“…The 265 articles summarized in Fig. 1, Box 2, were excluded because QOL was measured only by patients (163 articles), the proxy was not a physician (87 articles), the patient and the physician completed different questionnaires [14,[15][16][17][18][19][20] (7 articles), QOL was measured using the time trade-off and/ or standard gamble (8 articles) [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. The 11 articles mentioned in Figure 1, Box 3, were excluded for the following reasons.…”

Fulvestrant (‘Faslodex’) in heavily pretreated postmenopausal patients with advanced breast cancer: single centre clinical experience from the compassionate use programme

“…Only 19 women filled in two questionnaires. Differences in the willingness of patients to complete questionnaires are a well-known phenomenon in patients with metastatic disease and this willingness is known to decrease in the longitudinal run [11,12]. First, we compared the QOL in women who experienced CB.…”

Outcome measures for adult critical care: a systematic review.

“…85 Poor interrater agreement has been reported by Hutchinson and colleagues 86 and Mercier and colleagues. 87…”