Adaptation of an instrument to measure the informational needs of men with prostate cancer.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study is to adapt an instrument suitable for assessment of the informational needs of men with prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND

In recent years prostate cancer has become an important public health problem world-wide with considerable social and economic consequences. It is reported that it is the most common cancer affecting British men, with an average lifetime risk of occurrence of one in twelve.

DESIGN/METHODS: Methodological research was conducted to develop an instrument to assess the informational needs of men with prostate cancer on hormonal manipulation therapy (HMT) regarding their disease and treatment. The Toronto Informational Needs Questionnaire (TINQ-BC) (Galloway et al. 1997) was modified for use with this client group and was applied to a sample of 90 men generated from three urology centres in Northern Ireland.

RESULTS/FINDINGS: Construct and content validity of the instrument was established. Internal consistency reliability using Cronbach's alpha was calculated and found to be satisfactory (0.92). Using confirmatory factor analysis, factor loadings ranging from 0.37 to 0.90 were obtained and considered satisfactory. The subsections of the TINQ-BC categorized as Disease, Investigative tests, Treatment, Psychosocial and Physical needs were confirmed as individual factors. These results indicate that this instrument can be validly applied to this client group. As the instrument was initially developed in Canada and successfully used in the United Kingdom (UK), it is suggested that this instrument also has the potential for cross-cultural application. It has the potential to be used as a clinical reference instrument to assess the informational needs of this patient group. Health care professionals must be aware of the domains of information that these men perceive important so that educational interventions can be accurately and appropriately planned.