Abstract

IBANEZ, Claudia; SIERRA, Fabio  and  SANCHEZ, Ricardo. Cross-cultural adaptation of the EORTC QLQ-OES18 questionnaire to measure quality of life in patients with esophageal cancer in Colombia. rev.colomb.cancerol. [online]. 2013, vol.17, n.2, pp.69-76. ISSN 0123-9015.

Objectives: To make a cross-cultural adaptation of the EORTC QLQ-OES18 quality of life scale to the Colombian context for patients with esophageal cancer. Methods: Using the adaptation procedure proposed by the EORTC organization, the following steps were performed: transcultural adaptation request, first pilot test, linguistic adaptation and validation, second pilot test, and final version. In the first pilot test the scale was applied followed by a structured interview with a group of patients with esophageal cancer who attended a clinic in the National Institute of Cancerology. The aim of this was to identify problems of comprehension, confusion, offensive words, or more suitable paraphrasing of the items, and to make a linguistic adjustment of them. Results: A group of 12 patients took part in each pilot test. Problems in six items were identified in the first test, for which more suitable paraphrasing was proposed. The EORTC translation group and the applicant group determined which of the proposed linguistic modifications could be adapted, in order to preserve the equivalence of the suggested Colombian Spanish version with the original English version. No difficulties in the items were observed in the second pilot test. A total of five items were modified and culturally adapted. Conclusions: The adaptation process resulted in an easily understood questionnaire in Colombian cultural environment. A version of the QLQ-OES18 scale is available in Colombian Spanish to be validated and used in quality of life studies on patients with esophageal cancer.

Keywords : Quality of life; Culture; Questionnaires; Esophageal neoplasms.

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