Quality of life in breast cancer patients: validation of a FACT-B Malayalam version.

Abstract

Recent advances in diagnosis and treatment of cancer have led to an increase in cancer survival, and hence, there is a greater emphasis on quality beside quantity of survival. Developing countries too have begun to recognize the need for monitoring quality of life (QOL). However, in most of the developing countries, a validated and reliable tool for the purpose is yet to be realized. The functional assessment of chronic illness therapy (FACIT) system is a collection of QOL questionnaires targeted to measure QOL in chronic illness. The functional assessment of cancer therapy for breast cancer (FACT-B) was translated into the local language (Malayalam) and tested for validity and reliability. The tool thus developed showed substantial sensitivity, as does the source tool. The Cronbach's alpha for the total FACT-B was 0.87, which is similar to the alpha of 0.9 observed in the FACT-B English version. The mean FACT-B score was 94.3 compared to 112.8 for the source tool. The Malayalam translation of the FACT-B questionnaire was developed, tested and validated, and was found satisfactory in comparison to the source tool.