Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Taiwan Chinese Version of the EORTC QLQ-OV28.
Methods: The authors translated the questionnaire according to the guideline of the EORTC. A total of 96 patients with ovarian cancer in National Taiwan University Hospital were interviewed with the questionnaire and the EORTC QLQ-C30 between September 2004 and September 2007. Answer distribution and psychometric properties of the EORTC QLQ-OV28 were examined.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 54 (standard deviation 12 years). Most of the patients were in FIGO stages III or IV. Two thirds were on-treatment (chemotherapy). Items for gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, menopausal symptoms, and sexuality showed more flooring effects than others. Missing values were frequent in further questions about sexual activity. After excluding conditional questions, the Cronbach's alpha coefficients of most scales were satisfactory (0.74–0.89), except other chemotherapy side effects (0.63) and menopausal symptoms (0.39). The item-to-own and item-to-other scales correlation showed satisfactory results. Patients who were on-treatment had significantly poorer quality of life (QoL) scores in most symptom scales.
Conclusions: The EORTC QLQ-OV28 is a valid instrument to assess QoL issues of patients with ovarian cancer in Taiwan, a country of a different culture.
