Validation of the QLQ-C15 PAL Scale, to assess quality of life in patients in palliative care, to colombian spanish

Abstract

Objective: Validate the QLQ C15 PAL scale, to assess the quality of life in patients in palliative care, to Colombian Spanish, based in a classical psychometric analysis. Methodology: Convenience sample of 155 cancer patients attended by the Palliative Care Program of a group of hospitals in the cities of Bogota and Cali in Colombia. To estimate construct validity, exploratory factor analysis (AFE) with varimax rotation was used; Factorial loads were subsequently used to estimate the Omega coefficient and subsequently Rash’s recognized Analysis of Item Response Theory (TRI). The analysis was performed on Win steps 2.80. Results: All correlations are significant between the items on the Global Operation (FG) scale with the total score obtained on this scale and the total score of the QLQ PAL-15; the same situation occurs with items on the Emotional Functioning (FE) scale that correlates directly proportionally and with a high magnitude with the total score of QLQ PAL-15. As for the total scale, there is an appropriate adjustment for the items since their Infit values: (IMNSQ 0.99, ZSDT: -0.3) and Outfit (OMNSQ 1.02, ZSDT-0.2) are within the ranges set as adjustment parameters. Conclusion: The validation of the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in patients with advanced cancer disease in Colombia. It is proposed for subsequent studies to adjust the wording of items 7,11 and 13 so that they discriminate in a precise way the feature that they intend to measure.