Health Related Quality of Life Questionnaires: Are They Fit for Purpose?

Patients frequently ask two poignant questions during their management: ‘how will I be after my treatment?’ and ‘am I cured?’ Focused or absolute answers are generally frustratingly absent and the multidisciplinary team are likely to be guarded in their response because at presentation the site of the tumour and the stage of the disease will influence treatment possibilities and outcome. Outcome from the varying treatment modalities have been reported in terms of survival-interval and more recently the patients’ quality of life (QoL). The latter outcome is a multifaceted and dynamic concept which the World Health Organisation defined as a: “broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by a person’s physical health, psychological state, level of independence and their relationships to salient features of their environment" (WHOQOL group, 1993). More specifically such data in the context of disease is described in terms of health-related QOL (HRQoL) the subjective experience of the impact of health status on QoL for the patient (Curtis, 1997;) and can in relation to H&NC patients be described as a patient’s physical, emotional and social function at the pre and post-treatment stage(Hammerlid et al., 2001, Hammerlid and Taft, 2001).