Cancer Care Evaluation Scale (CCES): measuring the quality of the structure and process of cancer care from the perspective of patients with cancer

Abstract

To evaluate the quality of the structure and process of cancer care from the perspective of patients with cancer, we developed a Cancer Care Evaluation Scale. Two anonymous online surveys of patients with cancer in Japan were conducted using a convenience sample of 400 adult cancer outpatients. In total, 162 patients participated in the online surveys. Factor analysis revealed that the Cancer Care Evaluation Scale had the following 12 domains: (i) relationship with physician, (ii) relationship with nurse, (iii) physical care by physician, (iv) physical care by nurse, (v) psycho-existential care, (vi) help with decision-making for patients, (vii) coordination and consistency, (viii) environment, (ix) cost, (x) availability, (xi) care for the side effects of cancer treatment by a physician, and (xii) care for the side effects of cancer treatment by a nurse. The Cancer Care Evaluation Scale was correlated with overall care satisfaction (r=0.75), but not with the quality of life (r=0.40). In regard to rest-retest reliability, most items showed an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.7 or higher. The validity and reliability of the Cancer Care Evaluation Scale were confirmed, suggesting that this tool is useful for evaluating the quality of cancer care from the perspective of patients with cancer.