LB22

Use of questionnaires for communication in clinics: the opinions and preferences of patients with head and neck (H&N) cancer on self-completion QoL tools

Sheila Fisher, Aditya Vikram, Aine Donnelly, Alexander Newsham, Colin Johnston, Adam Smith, Peter Selby, Galina Velikova

University of Leeds, UK

Background
Identifying areas of concern is an important facet of medical care. Well designed questionnaires may assist this aspect of care.

Aim
To gain patient opinions on validated HRQoL questionnaires in H&N cancer clinics..

Method
Cross-sectional study of patients who had completed treatment for H&N cancer and free of recurrence. Study groups were structured according to therapy early oral (EO)and early larynx (EL) had single modality treatment and late groups (LO) and (LL) multimodality management. Three general (SF-36, EORTC QLQ C30 and FACT-G) and three H&N specific (EORTC H&N module, FACT H&N and UWQOLv4) were presented in random order using a touch-screen computer, Ratings for items in terms of importance and how well written were recorded, using a four point Likert scale where 1=poorly and 4=very well.

Results
Full records were achieved for 101 participants (33 EO, 36 LO, 17 EL, 15 LL)

For general questionnaires, most (65) indicated no preference, 12 preferred SF-36, 14 FACT-G and 8 EORTC QLQ C-30. 21 patients were re-tested, of the 11 who expressed a preference, no-one chose the same measure twice. Mean scores for importance were: SF-36= 3.45, EORTC=3.49 and FACT=3.57 and for well-written, SF-36= 3.47, EORTC= 3.59 and FACT= 3.59.

For H&N measures, mean scores for importance were EORTC= 3.65, FACT=3.66 and UWQoL=3.66 and for well written EORTC=3.64, FACT=3.63 and UWQoL=3.61.

For each questionnaire patients in the late group accorded higher ratings than those in the early groups.

Conclusion
In terms of both the importance of items and the quality of wording all measures scored well. This study would support the place of questionnaires in identifying items for discussion in a clinical setting.

Acknowledgements
BAOMS and the Charitable Trustees of LTHT for funding
The H&N MDT at LTHT