Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innsbruck Medical University, Anichstr. 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Qual Life Res. 2013 Mar;22(2):369-78. doi: 10.1007/s11136-012-0147-1. Epub 2012 Mar 10.
Testicular cancer (TC) is the most common cancer in young men, and its incidence is increasing. The low mortality rate makes quality of life (QOL) an important issue in this patient group. This study aimed to develop a supplementary module of the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire to assess TC-specific aspects of QOL.
Questionnaire development was conducted according to guidelines from the EORTC Quality of Life Group. Phase I comprised generation of QOL issues relevant to TC patients through a literature search and interviews with patients and experts. Phase II included operationalization and assessment of item relevance. In phase III, items were pre-tested in a cross-cultural sample to assess issues such as understandability and intrusiveness of items.
In phase I and II, an initial list of 69 QOL issues possibly relevant to TC patients was refined through patient and expert interviews. The remaining 37 issues were operationalized into items and assessed for relevance and priority in an expert sample (n = 28) and a patient sample (n = 62) from Austria, Canada and the Netherlands. After revision of the item list, 26 items were considered eligible for pre-testing in phase III, in which 156 patients from Australia, Austria, Italy and Spain participated. All items passed criteria for pre-testing, thus forming the new EORTC QLQ-TC26.
The newly developed EORTC QLQ-TC26 is now available in several languages to assess QOL in TC patients receiving treatment and in TC survivors. Phase IV of questionnaire development will comprise international field testing, including extensive analysis of psychometric characteristics of the EORTC QLQ-TC26.
睾丸癌（TC）是青年男性中最常见的癌症，其发病率正在上升。低死亡率使得生活质量（QOL）成为该患者群体的一个重要问题。本研究旨在开发 EORTC QLQ-C30 问卷的补充模块，以评估 TC 特定的生活质量方面。
根据 EORTC 生活质量小组的指南进行问卷开发。第一阶段通过文献检索和对患者和专家的访谈，生成与 TC 患者相关的 QOL 问题。第二阶段包括对项目相关性进行操作化和评估。在第三阶段，通过跨文化样本对项目进行预测试，以评估项目的可理解性和侵入性等问题。
在第一阶段和第二阶段，通过患者和专家访谈，对最初可能与 TC 患者相关的 69 个 QOL 问题进行了精炼。其余 37 个问题被操作化为项目，并在奥地利、加拿大和荷兰的专家样本（n=28）和患者样本（n=62）中评估其相关性和优先级。在对项目列表进行修订后，有 26 个项目被认为有资格在第三阶段进行预测试，来自澳大利亚、奥地利、意大利和西班牙的 156 名患者参加了预测试。所有项目都通过了预测试标准，从而形成了新的 EORTC QLQ-TC26。
新开发的 EORTC QLQ-TC26 现已可用于多种语言，以评估接受治疗的 TC 患者和 TC 幸存者的生活质量。问卷开发的第四阶段将包括国际现场测试，包括对 EORTC QLQ-TC26 的心理测量特性进行广泛分析。
