The assessment of patients’ quality of life (QOL) is essential when evaluating the outcome of palliative care; however, no instruments have been validated for measuring symptoms and QOL in patients receiving palliative care in Chile. We aimed to investigate the content validity of the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 Palliative Care (QLQ-C15-PAL), replicating the methods used previously to shorten the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) for use among patients in palliative care. This cross-sectional study was conducted from October to November 2017 in four palliative care services. Patients with advanced cancer and health care professionals (HCPs) were invited to individual interviews to determine the relevance, appropriateness and relative importance of the 30 items of the QLQ-C30 for evaluating the outcome of palliative care, and whether relevant additional issues should be included. A total of 48 patients and 35 HCPs participated. The most important dimensions selected were pain, physical functioning, sleeping difficulties, emotional functioning, nausea/vomiting, fatigue, social functioning, lack of appetite, role functioning and constipation. Qualitative data identified important additional issues not covered by the questionnaire such as satisfaction with care, emotions and psychological support, as well as linguistic issues in the dyspnea and constipation items. The EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL showed good content validity in the assessment of symptoms and QOL of advanced cancer patients; therefore, we recommend the use of this questionnaire in palliative care in Chile. Dyspnea and constipation items were revised by the EORTC group. More research is needed to add a social dimension for a comprehensive assessment of patients’ QOL.

中文翻译：

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与来自智利姑息治疗服务的晚期癌症患者和医疗保健专业人员对 EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL 进行内容验证。


在评估姑息治疗的结果时，对患者生活质量（QOL）的评估至关重要；然而，尚未验证用于测量智利接受姑息治疗患者的症状和生活质量的仪器。我们旨在调查 EORTC 生活质量问卷核心 15 姑息治疗 (QLQ-C15-PAL) 的内容有效性，复制之前用于缩短 EORTC 生活质量问卷核心 30 (QLQ-C30) 的方法以供患者使用在姑息治疗中。这项横断面研究于 2017 年 10 月至 11 月在四项姑息治疗服务中进行。邀请晚期癌症患者和医疗保健专业人员 (HCP) 进行单独访谈，以确定 QLQ-C30 的 30 项评估姑息治疗结果的相关性、适当性和相对重要性，以及是否应包括相关的附加问题。共有 48 名患者和 35 名 HCP 参与。选择的最重要的维度是疼痛、身体功能、睡眠困难、情绪功能、恶心/呕吐、疲劳、社交功能、食欲不振、角色功能和便秘。定性数据确定了调查问卷未涵盖的重要其他问题，例如对护理、情绪和心理支持的满意度，以及呼吸困难和便秘项目中的语言问题。 EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL在评估晚期癌症患者的症状和生活质量方面表现出良好的内容效度；因此，我们建议在智利的姑息治疗中使用该调查问卷。 EORTC 小组修订了呼吸困难和便秘项目。需要更多的研究来增加社会维度来全面评估患者的生活质量。