Registry researchers evaluate the psychometric properties of the EORTC-QLQ-PR25 in prostate cancer survivors

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The National Cancer Registry, in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry has published a new paper from the PiCTure (Prostate Cancer Treatment, your experience) study. One of the aims of the PiCTure study was to investigate the psychometric properties (i.e. how well it measures the construct of interest) of the EORTC QLQ-PR25, a questionnaire developed to assess the prostate cancer-specific health related quality of life (HRQoL) of prostate cancer survivors, that is, their sexual function and activity, urinary, bowel and hormone treatment-related symptoms and urinary bother.

The evaluation of the psychometric properties of the EORTC QLQ-PR25 revealed mixed results. Although the proposed factor structure (i.e. the six proposed factors: sexual function and activity, urinary, bowel and hormone treatment-related symptoms and urinary bother) was confirmed, some of the subscales (bowel symptoms and hormone treatment-related symptoms) showed poor reliability, a lack of discriminant validity and moderate levels of item non-response. However, other subscales (sexual activity and sexual functioning) had good reliability and appeared to tap into issues not captured by other HRQoL instruments. Overall, the instrument discriminated effectively between certain clinical subgroups, including different treatment groups.

Based on their findings, the authors concluded that future researchers may wish to consider using parts of the instrument and/or making modifications to questions or layout when assessing the health related quality of life in prostate cancer survivors. 

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