Validation of the Indonesian version of the thyroid cancer-specific quality of life as a tool to assess the quality of life among pediatric thyroid cancer patients

Abstract

Background Diagnosis and management of pediatric cancer develop a major life event that might impact psychosocial functioning and quality of life (QoL) even long after the initial therapy has been completed. Treatment outcomes have been measured in terms of survival time, but they also significantly impact survivors’ quality of life. The pediatric differentiated thyroid carcinoma survivors’ QoL has rarely been evaluated. This study aims to translate and validate the Indonesian version of the ThYCA-QoL questionnaire. Results The median age of 105 eligible survivors was 20.88 years old. Eighty percent of the survivors were female, were married or in a relationship (86.7%), and had paid jobs or were full-time students (71.7%). The median follow-up time was 64.82 months. Cronbach-α co-efficient was > 0.70 for psychological, concentration, throat, and mouth problems. For sympathetic, neuromuscular, voice, and sensory, the scores were < 0.70, where a multi-trait scaling analysis showed that all item correlations were > 0.40. Validity was assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient for y-QoL with r > 0.60 and p < 0.01. Conclusions The Indonesian ThYCA-QoL questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool to evaluate pediatric patients’ QoL after treatment. This simple assessment tool can be used to evaluate and manage pediatric thyroid cancer patients’ HRQoL.