A NEW FUNCTIONAL EVALUATION TOOL FOR CANCER CARE

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There are two objectives for this research award, entitled "A new functional evaluation tool for cancer care." First, the research aim is to develop a new, patient administered, multiple choice questionnaire that will be useful in the assessment of performance status. Second, the career development portion of the award will support the education of the candidate in the skills necessary to construct and interpret qualitative, thus augmenting his quantitative skills and his ability to perform independent, outcomes related research. The performance status of patients with cancer is currently assessed using one to two provider scored scales: the Karnofsky Performance Scale and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance scale. Although these scales have been seen wide use for many years, recent advances in scale development, and recent research evaluating these two scales have demonstrated that neither of these scales demonstrates the level of performance that could be achieved through a well constructed instrument. As these scale are currently used to make decisions about therapies and eligibility for clinical trials, structural and performance problems with the scales have the potential to substantially affect both patients with cancer, and research on cancer treatment. We propose for the applicant a combined program fo classwork, self study, and scale development over the grant period that we hope will yield an improved measure of physical function. The scale will be constructed through a four step process. 1) Identification of domains through interviews that make up the construct 'function'. 2) Writing and testing of questions that reflect these domains. 3) Assessment of reliability, construct validity, and predictive validity of the domains and the questions. 4) Instrument assembly through analysis of results of reliability and validity testing, followed by dissemination of results.