Measuring quality of life of Chinese cancer patients

Autor: Clara L. M. Yu, Richard Fielding, Cecelia L. W. Chan, Vincent K. C. Tse, Peter H. K. Choi, W. H. Lau, Damon T. K. Choy, S. K. O, Anne W. M. Lee, Jonathan S. T. Sham
Rok vydání: 2000
Předmět:
Zdroj: Cancer. 88:1715-1727
ISSN: 1097-0142
0008-543X
Popis: BACKGROUND Few cancer specific quality-of-life (QoL) measures from the West have been translated for use with Chinese-speaking patients, and no substantial validation of these translations with adequately large cohorts has been published previously, to the authors' knowledge. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General (FACT-G) is a well-validated QoL instrument that is specific to cancer patients. The scale was translated into Chinese and the psychometric properties of this translated scale (FACT-G [Ch]) were tested with a Chinese sample in Hong Kong, China. METHODS A total of 1262 Chinese cancer patients were selected in 3 samples from 5 Hong Kong regional hospitals. Quantitative and qualitative data were used to assess the cultural equivalence, factor structure, reliability, and validity of the FACT-G (Ch). RESULTS Focus group discussions indicated that the FACT-G was seen as covering QoL domains identified as important and relevant to Chinese cancer patients, though in some respects it was seen as having limited scope in this sample. Psychometrically, the factor structure of the FACT-G deviated from that of the original work. The FACT-G (Ch) had acceptable reliability (Cronbach alpha 0.85). The convergent validity of the FACT-G (Ch) with a generic QoL measure (WHOQOL-BREF[HK]) was 0.72 (P < 0.001), and divergent validity showed low correlations of less than 0.15 (P < 0.05) with non-QoL measures. CONCLUSIONS Focus group data indicated that the FACT-G translation into Chinese was seen as a conceptually relevant and moderately sufficient QoL measure. Psychometrically, the instrument had acceptable properties, but conceptual differences from the original version were suggested. Although more work is needed to increase its adequacy, the translated scale has reasonable utility for use with Chinese populations in clinical settings. Cancer 2000;88:1715–27. © 2000 American Cancer Society.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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