Kudoh et al evaluated the quality of life for patients receiving chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer. This can be used to monitor the patient over time. The authors are from multiple universities and hospitals across Japan.
Measures:
(1) global quality of life descriptor
(2) 8 disease-related symptoms
The global quality of life is represented by 5 faces.
Facial Feature
Global QOL
smiling, happy, content
5
somewhat positive
4
slightly negative
3
moderately negative
2
significant distress
1
Disease-related symptoms:
(1) cough
(2) pain
(3) anorexia
(4) shortness of breath
(5) fatigue
(6) nausea
(7) bowel disorder
(8) sleep disturbance
Symptom Severity
Points
not at all
0
a little
1
moderately
2
very much
3
where:
• This could easily be made into a 5 point scale, adding an extreme category at 4 points.
• Pain could be assessed using the "faces" scale.
total score =
= SUM(points for all 8 symptoms)
Interpretation:
• minimum symptom score: 0
• maximum symptom score: 24
• A high score in the global scale is good, while a high score on the symptom section is bad.
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