European Organisation of Research and Treatment (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ) Breast Cancer Module Update

The Update of the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire Breast Cancer Module (EORTC QLQ-Breast 23) Phase 1-3

The purpose of this study is to update the EORTC QLQ Breast (BR)-23 Module. Since the development of BR-23 published 1996 the standard therapy of breast cancer has changed. New therapies brought new side effects and different impact on QoL (quality of life) are not sufficiently covered by EORTC QLQ BR-23 and an update of the module could be useful, both from clinical and scientific point of view.

1. Based on a systematic literature search a new issue list will be developed, containing additional issues relevant for new treatment strategies. A total of 5-10 patients from different countries (5-8) as well as health care professionals (5/country) will be interviewed (Phase 1).
2. Operationalization of the issues into items; a provisional version of a the questionnaire and a hypothetic scale structure will be established (Phase2).
3. The resulting provisional updated module will be tested with respect to understanding, comprehensiveness and applicability (according to the EORTC Module Development Guidelines). The items will be translated from English into other languages following a standardized forward-backward procedure. Total aof 260 patients will be interviewed from different cultural areas: Northern Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Asia (Phase 3).
4. The module and its scale structure will be field-tested in a large, international group of patients in order to determine its acceptability, reliability, validity, responsiveness and crosscultural applicability .

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients with early or metastatic breast cancer

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with second malignancy