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. 2018 Jan 4;16(1):4.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-017-0827-1.

Validation of the German version of the late adolescence and young adulthood survivorship-related quality of life measure (LAYA-SRQL)

Diana Richter  1 , Anja Mehnert  2 , Florian Schepper  3 , Katja Leuteritz  2 , Crystal Park  4 , Jochen Ernst  2
Affiliations

Validation of the German version of the late adolescence and young adulthood survivorship-related quality of life measure (LAYA-SRQL)

Diana Richter et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Cancer has adverse effects on patient's quality of life. As such, measuring quality of life (QoL) has become an integral part of psycho-oncological health care. Because adolescent and young adult patients have different needs in contrast to children and older cancer patients, instruments for adequately measuring QoL of cancer survivors in this age range are essential. As there is not a corresponding instrument in Germany, we aimed to validate the German version of the Late Adolescence and Young Adulthood Survivorship-Related Quality of Life Measure (LAYA-SRQL), a 30-item questionnaire covering 10 dimensions related to QoL.

Methods: The LAYA-SRQL was translated into German following state-of-the-art criteria. We enrolled 234 adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients with different tumour entities aged between 16 and 39 years old. Factorial structure was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency was determined by Cronbach's α. The Short Form Survey quality of life questionnaire (SF-12v2) was used to examine convergent validity.

Results: The 10-factor structure of the LAYA-SRQL was confirmed in the German sample, and the model shows high values of fit indicators: χ2 = 723.32 (df = 360, p < 0.001), CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.90, SRMR = 0.074, RMSEA = 0.066). Subscales showed acceptable to excellent internal consistencies with Cronbach's α > 0.70 and total Cronbach's α of 0.93. Convergent validity was demonstrated by high positive correlations between the LAYA-SRQL and the physical (r = 0.45) and mental component (r = 0.65) of the SF-12v2.

Conclusions: The German version of the LAYA-SRQL showed good psychometric properties. The instrument proved to be a highly reliable and valid instrument that can be recommended for use in the follow-up care of AYAs and for clinical research.

Keywords: Adolescents and young adults; Assessment; Cancer; Quality of life; Validation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

We obtained approval (number 082–16-14,032,016) for the study from the local ethics committee at the University of Leipzig’s Medical Faculty. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

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