Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL for patients with advanced cancer

Assessing quality of life, which is the main focus of palliative care, is highly important. The number of available, specific, simple, and valid assessment instruments for patients with advanced cancer in Turkey is limited. The aim of our study was to perform a psychometric evaluation of the Turkish version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 15-PAL (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL).

The study was conducted in İzmir with patients who had received treatment in the palliative care unit of a university hospital between November of 2011 and December of 2013. Sociodemographic and disease characteristics forms, the Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) Scale, and the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL Scale were employed in order to gather data.

A total of 150 patients completed the study: 55.3% of participants were female, 80.7% were married, and the average age was 52.76 ± 14.55. The value of Cronbach's α in the analyses ranged from 0.93 to 0.98. Most questionnaire areas had low to moderate correlations with the others. The moderate correlations were between fatigue and physical function (-0.41) and between insomnia and emotional function (-0.53). Conversely, weak correlations were found between nausea/vomiting and appetite loss (0.31) and between insomnia and pain (0.22). KPS scores decreased, patient physical and emotional function were diminished, global QoL declined, and patients' symptoms became more frank.

We concluded that the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL is a valid and reliable tool to determine the quality of life of advanced cancer patients who are undergoing palliative treatment in Turkey.