Developing the Breast Utility Instrument to Assess Health-Related Quality of Life and Preferences in Patients with Breast Cancer
June 2022
in “
TSpace
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Studysummary This thesis presents the development of the Breast Utility Instrument (BUI), a new tool for assessing health-related quality of life specifically in breast cancer patients.
Our plain-language summary. Not medical advice or a treatment recommendation. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before changing treatment. Full disclaimer
This research aimed to develop the Breast Utility Instrument (BUI), a breast cancer-specific preference-based tool to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with breast cancer. The study involved three phases: a literature review to establish a framework for developing condition-specific instruments, confirmatory factor analysis of responses from 408 breast cancer patients to identify a 10-dimension structure, and Rasch analysis to select one item per dimension based on various criteria. The resulting 10 items cover aspects such as physical, emotional, and social functioning, pain, fatigue, body image, and treatment side effects like hair loss. The BUI is intended to guide clinical decisions and health policy by incorporating patient and community preferences, with future research needed to validate and refine the instrument.
