Reliability of a Novel Hematological Malignancy Specific Patient-Reported Outcome Measure: HM-PRO

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Health Outcomes Research
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are crucial for capturing symptom experience often missed in clinical settings.
• The Hematological Malignancy Specific Patient-Reported Outcome Measure (HM-PRO) was developed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and symptoms in hematological malignancy (HM) patients.
• The HM-PRO aims to support treatment decision-making in both clinical practice and research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the internal consistency of the HM-PRO, specifically Part A (impact) and its domains, and Part B (signs and symptoms).
• To determine the test-retest reliability of the individual items within the HM-PRO.
• To establish the psychometric properties of the HM-PRO for use in hematological malignancy care.

Main Methods:

• A prospective longitudinal observational study involving 150 patients with various hematological malignancies.
• Patients completed the HM-PRO at two time points, 7 days apart (t1 and t2), to assess reliability.
• Statistical analysis included Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) for test-retest reliability.

Main Results:

• Cronbach's alpha estimates exceeded 0.9 for Part A and 0.8 for Part B, indicating strong internal consistency and measurement stability.
• Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) demonstrated very strong test-retest reliability: ICC = 0.93 for Part A and ICC = 0.91 for Part B.
• High ICC values (0.85-0.91) were observed for the domains of Part A, and overall scores for both parts exceeded 0.8 across all 10 diagnoses.

Conclusions:

• The HM-PRO exhibits robust test-retest reliability for both its impact (Part A) and signs/symptoms (Part B) sections.
• Acceptable internal consistency was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha, supporting the measure's reliability.
• The HM-PRO's validated reliability supports its use as a generic measure for hematological malignancies in clinical practice and research.