A pilot study of patient quality of life during radiation therapy treatment

The purpose of this research was to develop a quality of life (QOL) tool that would help to reveal any physical, mental or emotional changes patients may experience while receiving radiation therapy. Research focusing on quality of life during radiation therapy is in its infancy. Although many tools to measure QOL have been developed, until very recently few had been geared specifically toward those receiving radiation therapy. In addition to a radiation-specific instrument, the goal was to develop a multidimensional measure that would be short in length and could be completed by the patient in 15 min or less. This new Quality of Life Radiation Therapy Instrument (QOL-RTI) is a visual analogue scale with 24 questions and is not site specific. Twenty-one patients with various diagnoses and treatment sites completed the questionnaire at baseline and then weekly during the course of radiation therapy. The internal consistency of the instrument (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.87. At baseline each patient also was asked to complete the Ferran's and Powers QLI Cancer Version 6 (QLIC); the correlation between the QLIC and the QOL-RTI was 0.47. These results are based on a small number of patients, but initial efforts in creating an instrument that is quick and easy for patients to complete have been encouraging. An additional 70-80 patients are now being entered into a study using the QOL-RTI to further evaluate reliability and validity.