Abstract

SANCHEZ-PEDRAZA, Ricardo; SIERRA-MATAMOROS, Fabio Alexander  and  LOPEZ-DAZA, David Fernando. Colombian validation of the FACT-B scale for measuring breast cancer patients’ quality of life. Rev Colomb Obstet Ginecol [online]. 2012, vol.63, n.3, pp.196-206. ISSN 0034-7434.

Objective: Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the FACT-B scale using Colombian patients suffering from breast cancer. Materials and methods: A sample of 198 patients diagnosed as having breast cancer completed the FACT-B questionnaire and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) questionnaire including the general quality of life questions (QLQ-C30) and the breast cancer-specific module (QLQ-BR23). 37 patients from such sample were re-evaluated two weeks after the first evaluation for determining questionnaire test-retest reliability and 50 patients one month after receiving surgical treatment for evaluating sensitivity to change. Statistical analysis involved factorial analysis, structural equation modelling (SEM), correlation coefficients (Pearson and Lin), Cronbach’s alpha and ANOVA. Results: 5 factors were identified in exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Confirmatory EFA suggested poor original structure adjustment in this sample. Analysis of correlation between FACT-B and EORTC-QLQ BR23 suggested that these two scales evaluated the same construct. Internal consistency was above 0.65 for all domains; only the functional wellbeing domain (out of the 5 domains) revealed some change regarding results following surgical treatment. Conclusion: The Spanish version of the FACT-B questionnaire used in Colombia had suitable reliability and detected changes in some of the construct’s domains following treatment. Content validity must be studied in greater depth.

Keywords : Breast neoplasm; women’s health; quality of life; psychometry/methods; questionnaires.

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