Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 May 12;15(1):99.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-017-0672-2.

Domains of quality of life freely expressed by cancer patients and their caregivers: contribution of the SEIQoL

Zeinab Hamidou  1   2 , Karine Baumstarck  3 , Olivier Chinot  4 , Fabrice Barlesi  5 , Sébastien Salas  6 , Tanguy Leroy  7 , Pascal Auquier  1
Affiliations

Domains of quality of life freely expressed by cancer patients and their caregivers: contribution of the SEIQoL

Zeinab Hamidou et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: The purposes of this study, performed on a large sample of cancer patient-caregiver dyads, were: i) to simultaneously investigate, using an individualized quality of life (QoL) measure (Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual QoL, SEIQoL), the QoL domains freely expressed by cancer patients and their caregivers, and ii) to explore overlapping between the SEIQoL assessment and QoL assessment using traditional instruments.

Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional design including cancer patients who were going to receive chemotherapy treatment and their caregivers. Quality of life was assessed using condition-specific questionnaires (EORTC QLQ-C30 and CarGOQoL), generic health-related questionnaire (SF-36), and open individualized measure (SEIQoL).

Results: The final sample included 205 patient-caregiver dyads. From the SEIQoL, Family, Health, and Leisures were the most freely expressed QoL domains by patients and caregivers, but reported with different weights. Love life and financial issues were less spontaneously mentioned. The SEIQoL index was moderately correlated to the condition-specific QoL questionnaires (R lower than |0.40|) and to SF-36 (correlation coefficients: R ranging from 0.17 to 0.31).

Conclusion: Individualized QoL measures allow individuals to spontaneously express important, non-predefined domains. This study highlights the need to explore QoL using a combination of individualized questionnaires and standardized questionnaires, capturing complementary facets that patients consider important in their life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Proportions of expressed SEIQoL domains by the patient-caregiver dyads
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Garratt A, Schmidt L, Mackintosh A, Fitzpatrick R. Quality of life measurement: bibliographic study of patient assessed health outcome measures. BMJ. 2002;324:1417. doi: 10.1136/bmj.324.7351.1417. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Waldron D, O’Boyle CA, Kearney M, Moriarty M, Carney D. Quality-of-life measurement in advanced cancer: assessing the individual. J Clin Oncol. 1999;17:3603–3611. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1999.17.11.3603. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wettergren L, Kettis-Lindblad A, Sprangers M, Ring L. The use, feasibility and psychometric properties of an individualised quality-of-life instrument: a systematic review of the SEIQoL-DW. Qual Life Res. 2009;18:737–746. doi: 10.1007/s11136-009-9490-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. McGee HM, O’Boyle CA, Hickey A, O’Malley K, Joyce CR. Assessing the quality of life of the individual: the SEIQoL with a healthy and a gastroenterology unit population. Psychol Med. 1991;21:749–759. doi: 10.1017/S0033291700022388. - DOI - PubMed
    1. O’Boyle CA, McGee HM, Hickey A, Joyce CRB, Browne J, O’Malley K. The Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life (SEIQoL): Administration manual. Dublin: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; 1993.