Quality of Life Assessment in Paliative Care

• Research type

  Research Study

• IRAS ID

  150696

• Research summary

  Service users attending Palliative Care Day Services (PCDS) have reported that these services have a positive impact on their Quality of Life (QoL), but rigorous research evidence is lacking. This inconsistency can be attributed to a problem of measurement - instruments used to assess Quality of Life (QoL) may not encapsulate domains of life most valued by service users. The individualised approach to QoL assessment provides a means of assessing QoL that prioritises domains most valued by each individual, whilst still producing quantifiable evidence. However, head to head comparisons between an individualised assessment of QoL and more traditional QoL questionnaires are necessary to decide which instruments are most appropriate when evaluating the impact of PCDS of users' QoL.

  Therefore, the aim of this study is, primarily, to compare the sensitivity to change of the SEIQoL-DW (an individualised instrument), the MQOL (a palliative care-specific instrument) and the SF-36 (a generic instrument) among patients receiving palliative day care serices. This will involve the recruitment of 165 day service patients who will complete the QoL instruments at two time points with a 3 week interval.

• REC name

  HSC REC B

• REC reference

  14/NI/1084

• Date of REC Opinion

  8 Oct 2014

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion