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The pediatric cancer quality of life inventory-32 (PCQL-32): I. Reliability and validity
1Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, USA.
Insights
The Pediatric Cancer Quality of Life Inventory-32 (PCQL-32) is a valid tool for measuring pediatric cancer patients' health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Both patient and parent reports showed good reliability and validity in clinical trials.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Oncology
- Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) Measurement
- Clinical Trial Methodology
Background:
- Assessing health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is crucial for evaluating pediatric cancer treatments.
- The Pediatric Cancer Quality of Life Inventory-32 (PCQL-32) is a tool for systematic HRQOL assessment in children with cancer.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate the patient-report and parent-report forms of the PCQL-32.
- To assess the reliability and validity of the PCQL-32 for use in pediatric cancer clinical trials.
Main Methods:
- Administered PCQL-32 to 291 pediatric cancer patients and their parents.
- Evaluated clinical validity using the known-groups approach (on vs. off treatment).
- Assessed construct validity via a multitrait-multimethod matrix with psychosocial measures.
Main Results:
- High internal consistency reliability for PCQL-32 total scales (patient: 0.91, parent: 0.92).
- Scales demonstrated clinical validity, distinguishing between patients on and off treatment.
- Multitrait-multimethod analysis supported construct validity for all scales and forms.
Conclusions:
- The PCQL-32 (patient and parent forms) exhibits acceptable reliability and validity.
- Further testing is needed to confirm practicality and utility in multisite trials.
Background:
Multidimensional measurement of pediatric cancer patients' health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Phase III randomized controlled clinical trials is being recognized increasingly as an essential component in evaluating the comprehensive health outcomes of modern antineoplastic treatment protocols. The Pediatric Cancer Quality of Life Inventory-32 (PCQL-32) is a standardized patient self-report and parent proxy-report assessment instrument designed to assess systematically pediatric cancer patients' HRQOL outcomes.
Methods:
To validate a patient-report form and a parent-report form, the PCQL-32 was administered to 291 pediatric cancer patients and to their parents. Both forms yield a total score and five a priori multidimensional scales. Clinical validity was determined by the known-groups approach by comparing patients classified as either on or off treatment. To determine construct validity, a battery of standardized psychosocial measures was administered and a multitrait-multimethod matrix was constructed.
Results:
For both patient and parent forms, internal consistency reliability of the PCQL-32 total scale was high (0.91 and 0.92, respectively). The internal consistency reliabilities of the five component scales for both patient and parent forms were in the acceptable range for group comparisons. With regard to clinical validity, the PCQL-32 total scale and the disease/treatment and physical functioning scales of the PCQL-32 distinguished between patients on and off treatment for both patient- and parent-report. The results of the multitrait-multimethod matrix approach were consistent with hypotheses and lent evidence for the construct validity of the patient and parent forms of the PCQL-32 total scale and the psychological functioning, social functioning, cognitive functioning, physical functioning, and disease/treatment scales.
Conclusions:
The PCQL-32 has demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability, clinical validity, and construct validity for both patient-report and parent-report forms. Further field testing of the PCQL-32 will determine its practicality and utility in multisite pediatric cancer randomized controlled clinical trials.