Therapy preference scale: A novel questionnaire to understand patients’ preferences of cancer treatment.

Abstract

e23179 Background: Engaging patients in shared decision-making can help select an appropriate treatment for an individual and enhance patients’ experience and satisfaction with their care. This requires an in-depth understanding of patients’ values and preferences of various aspects of cancer treatment. A questionnaire to assess patient preferences is currently lacking. The purpose of our study was to develop a questionnaire that would fill this gap. Methods: We reviewed published literature to develop a theoretical framework to explain how cancer patients chose a specific therapy for themselves, and to identify key aspects of treatment that determine patients’ decisions about treatment. Three key domains (efficacy, safety and other characteristics of treatment such as need for hospital stay) were identified (Bhatt VR, J Geriatr Oncol. 2018 Nov 27 [Epub ahead of print]) and a mutli-dimensional self-report questionnaire with 49 items was developed. Each item was rated for relevance by 10 experts (oncologists, oncology nurses, advanced practice providers, social workers and pharmacists) to assess content validity (Lawshe formula) (Meas Eval Couns Dev, 47: 79–86). Ratings of ‘very relevant’ or ‘relevant’ were used to identify an essential question. Experts also suggested refinement of items. Three community members and 9 patients evaluated the instrument for face validity. Results: A content validity index for the questionnaire was 0.82. Face validity was confirmed. Based on input from the various stakeholders, the number of items, content, and format of the questionnaire was revised. The revised questionnaire includes a total of 36 items under four sections: safety (14 items), efficacy (4 items), treatment characteristics (8 items) and global items (10 items). Conclusions: We have developed a novel tool and established content and face validity. This self-report questionnaire can be used to understand patients’ preferences of cancer treatment. Further psychometric studies are planned to evaluate reliability and validity. Our ultimate goal is to use this tool to enhance communication between physicians and patients and facilitate shared decision-making.