Development of an EORTC questionnaire measuring instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in patients with brain tumours

Funder: EORTC Quality of Life Group

Background: Being able to function independently in society is an important aspect of quality of life. This ability goes beyond self-care, and is typically measured with instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) questionnaires. At present, there is no valid and reliable IADL questionnaire specifically for brain tumour patients.

Objective: To develop and validate a brain tumour-specific IADL questionnaire.

Study design: The methods for this prospective study follows the EORTC Quality of Life Group guidelines for updating existing modules, including a literature review, interviews with patients, carers, and health care professionals (for the identification of items relevant to current/new treatments (phase I)), creation of a revised item list (phase II), psychometric pilot testing (phase III), and field testing (phase IV).

Study team: This project is led by Prof Martin Taphoorn and Dr Linda Dirven at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Dr Florien Boele is the local collaborator.