Review of Quality of Life instrumentation in the oncology population.

Quality of Life (QOL) is a term that has become important in the past decade as a way to measure patient life satisfaction. Most clinical trials and oncology research studies now include some form of QOL assessment. If the oncology clinical nurse specialist is to assess QOL successfully, clarification of a definition and selection of appropriate instruments are necessary. The focus of this article is to provide the specifics of QOL instruments. A brief review of QOL's inception is followed by a review of definitions. Specifics of instrument selection are identified.